There are few people more iconic than the queen that is Madonna , but even legends had a life before fame. We’re all familiar with the Like A Prayer legend now, aged 65, with her signature blonde hair and unapologetic style . But beneath that, there was once a much softer brunette.
Before she was a global icon, Madonna Louise Ciccone was a university student just trying to scrape by and make a name for herself. It wasn’t until 1983 that the star, having dropped out of the University of Michigan, would become the unmistakable icon we know today. From a kiss with her ‘then-girlfriend’ to nude modelling snaps, a rare archive showcasing the Queen of Pop as a young adult in the 70s has been shared on X.
A far cry from cone bras and sell-out world tours, the pictures are a reminder that even if she’s a material girl now she was once just a girl. The pictures document Madonna in her late teens and early 20s, both at university and after she moved to New York to pursue her career. She moves from wearing floaty dresses and participating in her dance classes to the edgier denim look of the 80s grunge scene.
One picture, shared by Dear Johnny, is captioned: ‘Madonna poses nude for an art school to make money in New York City, New York. 1977.’ Another depicts the star beaming in a floral dress as she is ‘photographed at the University of Michigan, where she had a scholarship to study dancing’.
A polaroid reportedly from 1982 was ‘taken at her New York apartment, showi.