'Drinking beer and smoking weed in the parking lot of my high school was not my idea of being rebellious, because that's what everybody did,' recalls Madonna in a memoir published in the November issue of Harper's Bazaar. 'I thought it was cooler to not shave my legs or under my arms. I mean, why did God give us hair there anyways? Why didn't guys have to shave there? Why was it accepted in Europe but not in America? No one could answer my questions in a satisfactory manner, so I pushed the envelope even further. I refused to wear makeup and tied scarves around my head like a Russian peasant... I turned myself into a real man repeller. I dared people to like me and my nonconformity.'

So move over Leandra Medine – the original man repeller was apparently Madonna. 

But Madge, I'm not buying it. It's true that you built your career on lace gloves and cone-shaped bras – not traditionally items one would rock out on a blind date – but there was also the performing-a-sex-act-on-an-Evian-bottle incident, and the on-stage kiss with Britney Spears. Which, let's face it, are the standard clichéd fodder for male fantasies.

The concept of a 'man repeller' is a curious one. Medine has recently published an autobiography that details her surprise at managing to attract her husband even though she was wearing harem pants at the time. Her husband is the handsome banker Abie Cohen, who clearly is intelligent enough not to be repelled by a funny, charismatic, clever woman just because she's wearing dropped-crotch trousers. Is this really surprising?

Medine developed the definition of 'man repeller' with a friend: 

man re.pell.er [mahn-ree-peller] – noun: outfitting oneself in a sartorially offensive way that will result in repelling members of the opposite sex. Such garments include but are not limited to harem pants, boyfriend jeans, overalls (see: human repelling), shoulder pads, full-length jumpsuits, jewelry that resembles violent weaponry and clogs.

It's a joke that launched a hugely successful career (and she's still only 24). But it's not really true. The way we dress expresses who we are – when Madonna let her legs go hairy and stopped wearing make-up at high school she wasn't boldly sacrificing her lovelife. She was expressing how fervently she wanted to be different from the crowd – and that, ultimately, is what has made her so attractive to millions of fans (and the many men she has failed to repel).

Equally, Medine is a hugely confident, likeable character, even if you're not keen on her overalls. The kind of men who'd say they were repelled by her fashion sense are the kind who would actually be put off by her intelligence and personality – because they're looking for bland women. A certain type of tabloid and magazine likes to list the clothing items men most hate on women (clumpy shoes, jumpsuits, etc etc) – it's a lazy, boringly outdated way of telling us that we should be checking our outfits with our boyfriends before we leave the house.

So Madonna's use of the 'man repeller' term to sum up how ker-azy and nonconformist she was at school falls a little flat. Male or female, if you really want to repel the opposite sex, then Russian peasant scarves and harem pants aren't the way to go. Just stop brushing your teeth and watch as your lovelife comes to a standstill. Now that's pushing the envelope.