Gwen Stefani music icon

Music & Fashion: Gwen Stefani

Before Christmas holidays I annunced some news for 2013... one of them is this new column, Music & Fashion. I think that the title says all: it's dedicated to the special union between fashion and music that, together, create one of the coolest form of communication. We start with one of the most glam icon of music scene, miss Gwen Stefani.

Twenty-seven years, two children and there she is, the same flat stomac and the ska mouvments mixed with an eclectic and original style that made her an icon. After a period of relative silance, Gwen is back now with the No Doubt, the music band with which she got the fame during the 90's, and the new single Settle Down that anticipated Push and Show, released the last septmeber 25.

 

It was the far 2001 when the band published Rock and Steady, the last album before a long break lasted more than ten years and Gwen was still the girl with a rock soul, colored hair and steel abdominals that she shown off with micro tops and sporty pants, a look that was her trademark on stage and behind the scene.

Accused to be another clone of Madonna, Gwen quickly showed who she really was creating her own personal and original style that immediately inspired millions of girls around the world and that is keep inspiring such artists like Rihanna and Katy Perry, who often appear like a revisited and corrected (but not too much) version of her and who don't hide to look at Gwen like a source of inspiration in creating their own style.

For those who remeber her in the time of Don't Speak (it was the 1996), with the red lips and the bone of contention in her hands, it's hard to believe how that jumping girl is become the sophisticated woman that today, glamourous than ever, joins fashion shows and walks the red carpet of premieres and social events.

Don't speak - Miu Miu's polyvore

Her is a slow transformation started in 2003 (the years during which she created her own clothing brand, L.AM.B., apprecciated by celebrities and fashionistas, followed a short time by Harajuku Lovers) that made her through several phases: from lolita to animalier style, from  fantasy (she was simply amazing as Alice in Wonderland in the music video of What you waiting for?) to a chic burlesque style (who doesn't remember her as sexy pirate surrounded by gold in the video of Rich Girl?), passing by retro (she was beautiful in her 40's style clothes as Jeane Harlow in The Aviator, the movie directed by Martin Scorsere, and  in the video of It's my life) and bon ton style characterized by big hair in videos like Cool and 4 in the morning, until the 2012 version: sexy, ladylike and wraped by dresses that emphase her perfect body.

But watching her in the music video of Settle Down her look doesn't seem to have changed from the days when as great bad girl she broke loose on stage with her band: white tank top and large pants, Gwen seems to be the same girl of ten years ago... What version do you like the most?

I like her style: she's sexy without being vulgar, irriverent but not extravagant. There's always a touch of red and black in her looks, sometimes leather that makes her so damn cool... I mean she has the perfect dose of glam and rock attitude. She's always stylish no matter what she wears! Here a slideshow of her best looks...

What do you think?