Madonna Takes Cover

THE MOVIE: “Body of Evidence”

THE SETUP: Art dealer Rebecca Carlson (Madonna) is accused of using her own body moves to murder her boyfriend in bed. She’s stuck in the courtroom for much of the movie, defending her life.

THE COSTUME DESIGNER: Susan Becker, whose credits include “Father of the Bride,” “Dying Young,” “Flatliners,” “St. Elmo’s Fire,” “Men Don’t Leave” and “Baby Boom.” Becker also designs dresses for the in-store label at Maxfield on Melrose.

TRY THIS AT HOME: As she proved in “Desperately Seeking Susan,” what Madonna wears on-screen can reverberate on Melrose Avenue for years to come, and it could this time, too. Once again, it’s Madonna’s lingerie that’s startling. Her killer-seductress character is as trashy as they come, but she wears old-fashioned, up-to-the-belly-button, low-rise briefs. In a key bedroom scene, she wears white cotton briefs by Carter’s. Her modest bras are really rather simple.

QUOTED: “You can imagine a lingerie fitting with Madonna. We had rooms filled with every kind of lingerie made from 1900 to 1992. The director (Uli Edel) really liked the . . . underwear,” says Becker.

THE REST OF THE LOOK: To convince judge and jury of her innocence, Madonna dresses well-behaved. The trouble is, it’s hard to buy Madonna playing middle-of-the-road. How middle-of-the-road? Try tweed. And a single-strand pearl choker in virtually every scene.

Becker dresses her in only the best and chicest nipped-in little suits. A black wool sheath with pearls, however, goes overboard in the name of restraint. Ditto for a navy A-line.

BAD HAIR DAY: Madonna’s Dietrich-esque penciled-in brows and bleached-out platinum hair torturously rolled and sprayed into an up-twisted do just doesn’t jibe with the ‘90s. It’s even worse when she tops it off with a French schoolgirl beret.

TRENCH WATCH: We saw them first on Juliette Binoche in “Damage” and now on Madonna. Gartlerless stockings are the choice of well-toned young women working in the art business.

HEMLINE WATCH: Mid-knee on Madonna; just to the top of the knee on Anne Archer’s character Joanne Braslow, the prosecution’s prime witness.

SOURCES: Besides Carter’s, Madonna also wears La Perla lingerie. Her suits are from Agnes B. and Richard Tyler, while other pieces are by Armani, Hermes and Calvin Klein. The pearls are from Miriam Haskell. The black sheath is circa 1950s; the navy A-line is from Ralph Lauren.