Dress You Up

I’ve been doing some Madonna research lately (more on that later) and came across this short clip of Madonna performing Dress You Up at Keith Haring’s Party of Life in May 1984 at the Paradise Garage, almost 6 months before the Like A Virgin album was released.

By Keith Haring (source):
“In the spring of 1984, it’s time for my birthday, and I stage what I call my Party of Life event. I want to make this into quite a grand affair. The fact is, I’m now making a certain amount of money and I feel a certain guilt about it, and I want to share it with my friends… you know, sharing the wealth! So I plan this big party, which is for my birthday, but not on my birthday.

I ask Madonna if she could sing at the party and she agrees. As a matter of fact, she had been to my studio just days earlier to play me some cuts from her new album ‘Like A Virgin.’, at which time hadn’t come out yet. I immediately liked “Dress You Up” and “Like a Virgin”, and we decide she’ll sing these two songs at the party. While we’re hearing these songs, I do a painting on Madonna’s leather jacket which she wears to the party. Madonna decides that she wants to sing these two songs on a brass bed covered with frilly material and strewn with white roses.

I decide to hold the party at Paradise Garage, because it continues to be my clubhouse and the coolest club in New York. Although only open weekends, I persuade the owner to let me hire the club out on a Wednesday night. I now ask LAII ( and myself and other friends of Keith ) to help me decorate the place. We make these huge cotton banners, which we spray paint in fluorescent colors. We hang these around the club. We also hang fluorescent streamers everywhere, and in another room we erect these huge fluorescent pillars and vases with flowers in them. We also hang some of my huge vinyl tarps so that the event also turns into a big exhibition.” (Read the full text)

The flyers for the event can be found here