If you're Madonna, you can wear whatever the heck you want. The pop diva chose lipstick red.

We're mostly used to seeing Madonna in black: black Dolce & Gabbana, black Stella McCartney, and at the Super Bowl halftime show, black custom-made Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci.

But for the cover of her 12th studio album, MDNA, the undisputed Queen of Pop went in a more fiery direction: a screaming, train-stopping red number from Antonio Berardi. The slinky, scarlet shift with padded shoulders is slightly futuristic, and she matches it with red lips and red fingerless gloves, recalling vintage '80s Madonna.

The cover photo was shot by Mert and Markus, a photography team known for their Louis Vuitton campaigns, and who seem to have eclipsed Steven Meisel and Mario Testino as the most sought-after fashion photographers in the business. The look was styled by Madonna's Oscar-nominated stylist Arianne Phillips, who created the costumes for M's new movie W.E.