Madonna had first performed " Vogue " at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards , where she and her dancers were clad in 18th century-inspired fashions , inspired by Marie Antoinette . Madonna re-created an 18th-century French court , with sexual innuendo in the performance . At one point the singer flipped open her large skirt , allowing one of her dancers to crawl inside and come out through the other side . Her dancer Carlton Wilborn explained that " such level of production had never been done on MTV . The costumes , the fans , the drama ... MTV just had no idea , we just came out and rocked . " O'Brien described the performance as a " moment of inspired brilliance " , while Taraborrelli noted it as a " classic , camp show that elevated the standards of future performances on that program " . It was later ranked by '' Billboard '' as the sixth best performance in the history of the award show
1990 MTV Video Music Awards
1990 MTV Video Music Awards
I'm Breathless