Madonna's Daughter Lola Leon - Not Just Another Waster Celebrity Kid

Unlike many of the children of the rich and famous it seems Madonna's 13-year-old daughter Lourdes already has a work ethic - and a professional interest. For Madonna and lookalike-daughter Lourdes, or Lola, are hard at work launching a line of teen fashion clothes for girls. Unsurprisingly, the line is called Material Girl and Lola is helping to market it. Madonna says that her talented daughter, as well as marketing Material Girl clothes online in a blog, also contributed strongly to the design process and is naturally creative when it comes to fashion. (See some of the design sketches here.)

Although most people would say they know where Lola gets that from, Madonna points out that she's far from the only influence on Lola's creativity.

She says her friend Stella McCartney is the one who inspired Lola to take an interest in clothes design. "Lola has been bothering me for ages about designing clothes" Madonna told Billboard.com. "Stella McCartney is a good friend of mine and she got her mind thinking when Lola was a little girl, about 8 years old. She started giving Lola fabrics, inviting her into her showroom and asking her opinion on things, giving her sketch books and stuff like that. Stella always pushed her."

Lola has also of course grown up with a mother whose style changes as often as she steps in front of a photographer. And the teenager is used to hanging out with Madonna and designers like Jean-Paul Gaultier, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. It's only natural that they'll have had some influence, inspiring her to look at and perhaps think about clothes with a young designer's eye.

Madonna confirms that her daughter, with 43-year-old Cuban-American fitness trainer Carlos Leon, has a developing interest in fashion design: "[Lola] has been around all the shoots I have done and all the campaigns I have done. She is always hanging out backstage. The last two tours I have done, she has been working in the wardrobe department. On this last tour she dressed all of the dancers."

It will be interesting to see how Lola Leon develops as she matures. Certainly she seems very well-grounded at the moment and it's a healthy sign that she's developing an active interest in design and is happy to work. In this respect she seems, currently, to be developing far more in the mould of celebrity kids like Stella McCartney, Jade Jagger, Lizzie Jagger and Theo Richards than the various notorious waster celebrity kids like Cameron Douglas (present) and Christian Brando (past).

Two great things Lola seems to have going for her appear to be her relationship with both her parents and the co-parenting relationship between Carlos Leon and Madonna. Although Carlos and Madonna split up before Lola was one year old, he's behaved with dignity throughout Lola's young life and seems to be an exemplary father as well as still being friendly with Madonna. It's all too easy to imagine that a young man able to say he'd fathered a child with the world's best-known female entertainer would try to grab some limelight, pursue fame and cash in on his luck. But Carlos seems to be a man with his head screwed on, who has decent values. (Listen to Carlos Leon talking about his relationships with Lola and Madonna.)

Perhaps Lola's emerging work ethic and interest in design come partly from her dad. After fathering Madonna's only daughter, Carlos Leon continued to work, running a fitness business. His professional life centres on health, fitness and design - he has designed fitness centers for luxury apartment buildings, approving the idea that people should be able to exercise at home rather than travelling to a gym.
Like his daughter, Carlos has smouldering Cuban looks and has also been offered film parts. Acting is a second string to his bow and one he'd like to develop.

He is very proud that Lola is a well-grounded kid despite the spotlight she's grown up in and despite the huge fame and wealth of her mother. Carlos believes Lola's down-to-earth approach to life owes quite a bit to the example he sets as a father. "Look at me and the way I live" he says. "I ride my bicycle, I walk, I don't have a driver. That's how I keep her grounded. Her mom does a good job too - she's not that person that everyone thinks. She's very laidback and cool."

Lola's looking pretty laidback and cool these days too. She's emerging as a celebrity kid with a clear image and an equally clear idea where her interest lies. She seems to enjoy work and clearly loves fashion.

She'll no doubt be thrilled if Material Girl clothes, available from August 2010, are a hit with girls around her own age. And perhaps she'll be inspired to carry on dabbling in design.

The Material Girl line is rumoured to be a mix of 'tough' and 'feminine' styles featuring plenty of jeans, shoes, fingerless gloves, necklaces and other Lola-style accessories.
Material Girl clothes will be available exclusively at Macy's and on Macys.com from August 3rd 2010.

Source: http://www.materialgirlcollection.com/blog/

Source: http://www.accesshollywood.com/carlos-leon/carlos-leon-on-finding-out-about-madonnas-divorce-i-heard-it-when-you-heard-it_article_11706

Source: http://www.billboard.com