A never-before-seen Steven Meisel outtake of Madonna from the Truth Or Dare era. It's from the same shoot that produced one of my all-time favorite shots of Madonna, as seen on this teaser poster:

Both appear to be inspired by '50s creature features, in which lovely ladies often screamed their fool heads off as men in rubber outfits advanced upon them robotically.

After Sex, Madonna was dead to many former fans

My pal Piotr has launched a Facebook page in honor of the 20th anniversary of Madonna's Sex book, which more than any other thing she's done creatively is a work that separates one part of her career from another. Was it good for you? Or was it like when the trick of your dreams shows up looking nothing like his picture? Or maybe it was both from page to page? Regardless, Sex changed how people perceived Madonna.

Somehow, 20 years after the fact, fabulous (and mostly never-before-seen) Sex and Truth or Dare/Meisel's Vanity Fair-era shots are leaking. More are over at the invaluable Madonna Scrapbook.

How does this happen? Here is my theory:

Via Letters of Note: Check out this hilariously bratty letter written by Madonna to Steven Meisel back in '91 when she was filming A League of Their Own! It's unkind, but not too, and has a succinct wit to it. Plus she has that great handwriting. I love how real it is—Meisel was envious of Ritts?—and it ends with a momentous reference to an upcoming project...after the jump...

Now that I've gone all soft and posted a few of the best Madonna outtakes, Jezebel has caught on to the outtake intake of breath from fans and fanemies with a piece that's attracted lots of input. Interesting in that it's more of a woman's perspective.

Feel free to let them know what you think of Madonna's PhotoShopping and/or surgical (mis)adventures.

Credit: Absolument Madonna...merci!

This is allegedly the first image of Madonna for Louis V, fall campaign. It's a really cool, beautiful image, but if this is the real deal, why bother having surgery and showing up in person to be photographed when the end result will be fabricated as if from scratch? This is like someone's dream of Madonna, maybe hers, I don't know.

Steven Meisel's shot of Madonna for Vanity Fair has been selected Image Of The Year—Commercial Work by American Photo. It is a great picture if you overlook the brow.

Madonna's infamous "astroturf" dress (actually ostrich feathers) has resurfaced in another Louis V ad. I swear I don't have my  head in the sand, but it looks much more palatable from the side, no?

Too bad Louis V didn't do her tour costumes, eh?

Via MadonnaTribe (with thanks to Peter): Madonna looks smokin', or like someone was smokin' in that restaurant, in her Louis Vuitton shots by Steven Meisel. The  campaign is explained in unintentionally hilarious fashion (pun intended) in an article from WWD that quotes Marc Jacobs saying that a brainstorming session led to him blurting out, "I think we should do Madonna." But isn't this is the least creative idea ever, to be a fashion giant who hands big bucks to Madonna to get some attention? Who hasn't Madonna shilled for over the years? Just off the top of my head, I'm remembering Versace, H&M and The Gap. (Not that I'm complaining; the pix are beautiful and anything that keeps her out of trouble.)

Jacobs's inspiration came from her concert, which he describes as if he has discovered before anyone else that Madonna is fun on stage.

He BlackBerryed Madonna, who said, "I'd love to."