Pop star Sabrina Carpenter’s cover shoot for Vogue‘s March 2025 issue have sparked further comparisons to both Madonna and Marilyn – but I was also reminded of Billie Eilish’s 2021 layout for the same magazine.
While Sabrina has once again leaned into bombshell glamour, her latest photo shoot doesn’t evoke Marilyn particularly, other than a sartorial nod to her Travilla gown seen at the Call Me Madam premiere – a white satin variant on the pink ‘diamond dress’ from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which Sabrina referenced in a performance of ‘Buy Me Presents,’ the opening number from her recent Netflix special, A Nonsense Christmas.
Her Vogue pose is also slightly reminiscent of Marilyn’s in a photo by Frank Worth (wearing Travilla’s ‘millionaire dress’ later replicated by Bob Mackie for Madonna, and reworn by Sabrina at the 2024 VMAs.)
Another image of Sabrina reclining in a red lace dress could be loosely inspired by Marilyn’s photo shoots with Bob Landry or Gene Lester.
However, Sabrina’s ‘short and sweet’ persona is closer to Betty Grable in her prime, or even 1950s pin-up Betty Brosmer.
But the strongest influence here is clearly Madonna during her Blonde Ambition era – adding a sharper edge to Sabrina’s retro stylings – and indeed, photographer Steven Meisel has collaborated extensively with Madonna throughout her career.
The Queen of Pop herself accepted the compliment gracefully in response to Sabrina’s Instagram post about the shoot: “Is this a Valentine’s present to me?”
The Marilyn Report 
1 Comment
Comments are closed.