The music video for Hung Up, the lead single off Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005), is a tribute to 1970s movies starring John Travolta like Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Grease (1978). It also celebrates different subcultures of dance and references the 1980s aerobics aesthetic.

Originally, the video for “Hung Up” was to be directed by photographer David LaChapelle. However, LaChapelle and Madonna disagreed on the concept, prompting the project to be reassigned to Johan Renck, who directed Madonna’s Nothing Really Matters (1999) video.

Due to a horseback-riding accident on 16 August 2005, Madonna had broken eight bones. Although she faced difficulty doing the dance steps during the filming of the video, this didn’t stop her from committing to her shooting schedule: “On the actual shoot days I had to have a nerve block, and injection so I couldn’t feel the pain in my arm. It was a little bit stupid to do that, but the show must go on and I had a video I had to shoot. I can’t make a video for a dance track and not dance in it. I danced my heart out, couldn’t feel anything until the pain wore off. I was like, ‘Oh my God, what have I done?’“. Madonna’s scenes were shot in London, England between 8-11 October 2005 at the Pineapple Dance Studios and at the Trocadero Centre.

For the video, Madonna utilized the wild disco queen persona she, stylist Arianne Phillips and photographer Steven Klein concocted for the Confessions on a Dance Floor album shoot. The clip starts with Madonna clad in vintage dancewear dancing alone in a ballet studio, referencing the aerobics scenes from 1985 romantic drama, Perfect. In these scenes, she is wearing a rose ballet wrap top, a purple sequin dance belt and a carmine (M&P) leotard from The Way We Wore Los Angeles—all vintage. The look was accessorized with a pair of fire brick red peep-toe sandals by Canadian-British designer Patrick Cox.

Madonna wearing a pair of Patrick Cox peep-toe sandals

For the boombox scenes, Madonna sported a pink D&G Fall/Winter 2005 chiffon blouse, the same carmine (M&P) leotard used in the dance studio scenes, a vintage pink sequin dance belt and the glittery Gina Shoes pumps.

Madonna wearing a pink D&G chiffon blouse selected from the Fall/Winter 2005 collection
Boombox diva: Glitter pumps by Gina Shoes

The Hung Up video concludes at a gaming parlour where Madonna dances with her backup troupe. Here we see Madonna donning a vintage black leather hooded jacket, Prada jeans, her favourite Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford black leather lace-up boots and a vintage 1970s dark teal Danskin leotard from The Way We Wore. Madonna’s vintage black leather hooded jacket was bought by Arianne Phillips’ assistant, Annie Psaltiras, about 7 years prior to the video shoot. “I bought it at a thrift store in Utah in the middle of nowhere. It was a Christian thrift store. I think I bought it for what would be the equivalent of 5 or 10 British pounds,” recalled Annie during an interview for the video’s making-of.

Madonna in the vintage hooded leather jacket bought by Annie Psaltiras
Madonna rocking a pair Prada jeans and a vintage 1970s green sequin dance belt
Madonna sporting a vintage 1970s dark teal Danskin leotard from The Way We Wore
Busting a move in her favourite Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford Fall/Winter 2001 black leather lace-up boots
Behind the scenes: Keeping warm in a Christian Dior Fall/Winter 2005 Ready-to-Wear coat

Styling: Arianne Phillips

Styling assistant: Annie Psaltiras

Make-up: Gina Brooke

Hair: Andy LeCompte