10 Reasons to Hate Madonna's Material Girl Fashion Line

The Material Girl herself, Madonna, is launching a new fashion line in fall 2010. Together with fashion brand Iconix and her daughter Lourdes, Madonna is presenting the Material Girl Collection clothing line just in time for back to school shopping. While there's plenty to love about this pop icon's music and enduring girl power, there are 10 things to hate about her new Material Girl fashion project.

1. It's Designed By a Teenager: Madonna has been clear from the beginning, New York Magazine notes, that her teenage daughter Lourdes is the true designer of the Material Girl clothing line. All of the people who went to design school, and are working their way up through a fashion house, will be happy to know that the only real requirements for design success are to be a teenager and have a famous mother. Steal your mom's designer shoes and wear them with an oversized blouse, and you, too, can be a fashion icon!

Madonna has been doing the press for the Material Girl fashion line, insisting that Lourdes focus on important matters like...high school. When her daughter's done with her homework, however, she has to head to the boardroom: "I just sit on the conference table and watch and let her do the work - it's nice, it's refreshing."

As Lourdes confesses on the Material Girl blog, however, she didn't really design the clothes: "I'm not the designer of the line but my mom and I inspired it and do the styling and the putting together, staying on trend, yadayadayaaaahh." She yadayadayada'd over the important part, of course--that one of those design school lackeys did all the work and a teenager got the credit.

2. It's Fashion Backward: One of the big reasons for Madonna's continued success in music has been her ability to keep reinventing herself. Music and fashion fans alike have admired her risk-taking, fashion forward ideas, and trend-setting. Unfortunately, the Material Girl fashion line lacks that innovative spirit. "This is not at all unpredictable," the Stylist blog points out. "The collection is a mishmash of Madonna's greatest fashion hits from the early years with a smattering of current trends added in."

3. One Size Fits Nobody: According to PopCrunch, the Material Girl clothing line is meant for girls ages 13-25. Since the fashion line will be in junior sizes, this means only 25 year olds who look like 13 year olds will be able to wear it.

4. Madonna Isn't a Teenager: While her continued success in music and popular culture means she has younger fans, Madonna's fanbase has plenty of gals in their 30s and up. Since Madonna has always stressed (and been an example) that a woman can look sexy at any age, it's unfortunate she chose to launch a clothing line for teenagers instead of women.

This also means that many adult diehard Madonna fans will be squeezing their womanly figures into the junior sized Material Girl collection, and it will be the too-low-rise/muffin-top fiasco all over again.

5. Material Girl Pushes the Sexual Envelope in Teen Fashion: If you check out MTV's behind the scenes photo shoot for the Material Girl clothing line (and the Material Girl Collection website), you'll see plenty of sexy clothing better suited to those 25 year old girls, rather than teenagers. Most parents won't be thrilled about junior high girls going to school in crop tops, barely-there minis, and fishnets.

The irony is, Madonna doesn't want her daughter wearing any of it, either. As she tells Teen Vogue, she often has discussions with Lourdes about appropriate hemlines and cleavage: "And I always say to her, do you want everybody to be staring at your breasts, or do you want people to talk to you?" So, Lourdes can design the Material Girl clothes, she just shouldn't wear them--that's for other teenagers to experiment with.

6. Taylor Momsen Is Not a Role Model: Much like her character on Gossip Girl, Material Girl Collection fashion model Taylor Momsen is not exactly a teen role model. With her provocative clothing, raccoon eye liner, bleached hair, smoking and sex toys (according to FOX411), Taylor lends a distinct bad girl vibe to the Material Girl clothing line. Which is probably the point, but it's unfortunate that the trend is to sexualize girls at younger and younger ages.

7. It All Adds Up--to an Empty Wallet: While Madonna and Macy's have continually stressed the point that the Material Girl collection is priced reasonably at $12-$40 per item, this is only one piece of the puzzle. As Stylist notes, the Madonna fashion line is all about layers. Take four separate items of clothing (no doubt in the $40 range) and add in all the multiple accessories (including fingerless gloves!) and you're looking at one outfit for over $200. Maybe that's a modest price in Hollywood, but it's not in the rest of America.

8. Fashion Design is a Risk: Trying to branch out into an area where you have no experience, and being an older artist trying to cater to the youth market, are both risky propositions. For every Victoria Beckham fashion design success story, you've got a Paris Hilton or Beyonce disaster. Madonna has always teetered on the line between popularity and ridicule, so succeeding with the Material Girl Collection could be a real challenge. Fashion critics are tough enough--now try to impress a teenager.

9. There's the Annoyance Factor: Fashion design conjures images of beauty, elegance, chic style, and innovation. And then we have the Material Girl line, whose 13 year old designer--or "inspiration"--advertises in the Material Girl blog: "No but for rizzle, it's a great line and if you guys like it that that is FABNOSITY."

Need I say more?

10. Okay, Last But Not Least--Don't Stop the Music: Sure, we've always loved Madonna fashion, but we love Madonna music and dancing more. There's nothing wrong with branching out creatively, but fans can be selfish. Any time spent on a whim of a fashion line is time spent away from making a new album.

What do you think of Madonna's new Material Girl Collection clothing line? Love It or Hate It?