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Let’s talk about SEX, baby. To mark the 30 year anniversary of the release of Madonna’s revolutionary art book, conceived by the legend herself and shot by the quintessential fashion photographer Stephen Meisel, Saint Laurent is reissuing SEX in all its subversive glory. Saint Laurent celebrated the book’s countercultural legacy with a hedonistic Art Basel bash, bringing together the likes of Hailey Bieber, Zoë Kravitz, and Honey Dijon for a night of erotic extravagance in the lush surrounds of South Beach. Supermodel Alek Wek waded through the soft white sand of the beachfront venue in a white tuxedo jacket and penny loafers, and the ocean breeze gave Scout LaRue Willis a Marilyn Monroe moment in her jet black miniskirt. Madonna arrived fashionably late in a dominatrix look befitting of the book’s reissue, and the party raged on, fueled by tequila and champagne. Reporting from the center of the action was our editor-in-chief Mel Ottenberg, who reflected on the evening and the history of SEX after closing out the night at Twist, Miami’s most iconic gay club. 

More at Interview

To celebrate the seminal book’s re-edition, Anthony Vaccarello and Madonna have teamed up to curate an exhibition at Art Basel Miami Beach.

KIT FEATURING A T-SHIRT PRINTED WITH MADONNA’S BOOK TITLE SEX RE-EDITED AS PART OF ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH TO COMMEMORATE THE BOOK’S 30TH ANNIVERSARY. IT ALSO COMES WITH A TOTEBAG AND A POSTER FROM THE EXHIBITION.

SAINT LAURENT RIVE DROITE
SEX BY MADONNA
EXHIBITION
ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH 2022

Forget the literary smut of today, back in the 90s no one was doing sexy books quite like Madonna. Granted, it was only one and it was meant for our coffee tables, however the release of Sex had plenty of people clutching their pearls and nearly fainting out of protest. Needless to say it was provocative.

Hitting the stands just as the musician dropped her Erotica album in 1992, Sex featured photography from Steven Meisel and Fabien Baron that depicted, among many things, a naked Madonna dressed as her dominatrix alter-ego Dita. The book was daring with its inclusion of kink, and especially queerness at a critical time in LGBTIQA+ history. Naomi Campbell had a cameo, as did Madonna’s then-boyfriend Vanilla Ice, and it was shot across various locations including a motorway in Miami and the fabled Chelsea Hotel. Basically, you know it was good because the Vatican deemed it “morally intolerable”.

Read more at Russh.com

Madonna‘s groundbreaking Sex book, with its sexually-charged and erotic imagery, attracted extensive media attention and backlash when it debuted in 1992. Its cultural and social impact endures to this day, with the book an artifact of a defining phase of her career.