Elle Girl UK × March 01, 2002
This girl rocks!
No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani on Britney, learning to walk in heels and the trouble with zippers.
Gwen Stefani is the kind of girl that other girls want to be. She’s in control and in No Doubt… where she writes most of the songs and gets to live out her rock-star fantasies night after night. Then there was that video with Eve, the platinum blonde hair (and life), bee-stung lips and the gawky grace of her sun kissed bod. And did we even mention the fact that her snuggle-bunny is Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale?
But the main reason why we’d want to be Gwen is the mountains of clothes and accessories (so we’re shallow, so sue us) that she’s accumulated over the many years she’s been fronting No Doubt. So although we love No Doubt’s just-released album, Rock Steady, an irresistible CD shaped dance party if ever we heard one, what we really wanted to grill Gwen about is her personal style…
Were you a playground rebel?
Well I think that for young kids, it’s all about being like everyone else. So I had to have my sports shirt, and there was the zip-up sweatshirt that I wore every day. But when I hit puberty and found music, all of a sudden I wanted to be unique. In high school I did a lot of sewing and thrift-store shopping. My mum sews a lot of clothes for me when I was growing up, so I spent loads of time at the fabric store. Every dance that came up, we would buy fabric and make my dress. For prom, I made Grace Kelly’s dress from the movie Rear Window.
Wow, really?
My mum made me that dress! [Laughs] It was black velvet with a white chiffon skirt. We also made the dress from The Sound Of Music that Julie Andrews wears when she sings I Have Confidence. It was tweed with a drop waist, and I wore it the first time I was ever on stage at the school talent show.
What happened to the 40s dress you wore in the Don’t Speak video?
I got that at a thrift store, like five years before we shot the video. It smelled so bad that I never wore it. It’s beautiful fabric, that really old rayon that just hangs beautifully. But it’s a real mess!
Tell us about you adventures with needles and thread
I used to make a lot of my own stuff, but I could never do zippers very well. When we were on tour right after the first record came out, I made three or four dresses, which were all from the same pattern that I’d created myself. It was kind of a corset-style drop waist with a cheerleader skirt, and it looked like there was a white blouse underneath. I always made them in cartoon-y bright colours like bright reds, blues and yellows. Underneath I wore my boxer shorts and fishnets and Doc Martens. I had my little vibe going on.
Have you ever thought about starting your own clothing line?
I talk about it all the time but it’s hard to do a lot of things well at once. I’m so busy and I have so much passion for what I’m doing. So I think that if I do a clothing line, it has to be like everything else I do, home-grown; it has to be real. I wouldn’t just do it to make money, although I could do that easily. All I would have to do is the say the words “Here’s my accessory line” and it would be nuts. But the thing I love about our fans is that they get inspired and show up to our gigs in home-made gear. That is the coolest thing, I’ll never get sick of that. Our fans inspire me.
Who else inspires you? Let’s play a word-association game with the names of some stylish ladies. Grace Kelly?
Gorgeous.
Stevie Nicks?
I love her. Cool as hell. I relate to her a lot. And there are lots of similarities in the stories of our bands.
Veronica Lake?
I tried to copy her hair in the Hey Baby video!
Debbie Harry?
Me on the last record. I really tried to rip her off hard on that one.
Jean Harlow?
She was dope-ass, she had those skinny eyebrows and attitude. She was way ahead of her time.
Madonna?
I can’t give you one word. I have to give you a long winded explanation of my relationship with her. [Laughs]
Yes, please.
When I was in high school, I was really into ska music. And I was 15 or 16, so there were lots of rules. If something was really popular, you’re like “I’m not into that.” Madonna was huge, but I was really into ska. I was like Madonna? Whatever.
But I think that, secretly, I was interested. I went to her concert in ‘87 at Anaheim Stadium, because I was in love with Tony [Kanal, No Doubt's bass player] and his mum worked for the council and got free tickets. So we went and we kissed in the parking lot and saw the show. It was amazing.
But I was never really a huge fan of hers until recently. I just look at her body of work now, and I have a whole lot of respect for her. I know what it’s like to be a girl in a man’s world. I’ve met her a few times. She is a cool girl. She created this space so that other girls could come after her and make their mark… Madonna did that.
What do you think of Britney Spears and her image?
There’s room for everybody, and there’s always room for pure entertainment. I’m surprised at how fast she’s moved on. I wish that some of the younger artists would realise that it’s OK to hold on to their youth a little longer. It’s like, “Dude, you have so much ahead of you!” But I can’t say anything, I could never imagine myself having commercial success at that age. I would go crazy.
I think when you’re in a band, the cool thing is that you have time to grow. Like I only just started wearing heels and getting more comfortable with my sexual side. Before, my whole vibe was based upon the idea that I wanted to be a guy - but I wanted to wear a lot of make-up. Being a girl in a band means that I want to do my hair and wear cute clothes, but when I get on stage, I want to rock out.
If you hadn’t got into music, would you be a stylist or a make-up artist or something like that?
I was a make-up artist! I worked at a department store at Anaheim Plaza, which was a pretty low-grade mall with dollar stores. It was such a rewarding job to help people feel better about themselves by putting on a little of this and a little of that.
But if I hadn’t gotten into music I don’t think I’d still be working at the mall, I would have completed college. i mean, I’ve learned all the important things I needed because I didn’t want to feel stupid, but I’d love to go back to do something creative, like an art class.
You always look pretty immaculate. Do you ever just kick back in a sweatshirt and no make-up?
Oh, dude, yeah! Of course I do. On tour, I have two outfits that I wear every night on stage. I just rotate the colours. During the day I wear my workout clothes. That’s why I love doing photo shoots and TV appearances, because it’s all about the clothes, and lately I feel like I’ve rediscovered fashion. I went to the fabric store to make a skirt for my sister’s wedding and I freaked out! I was like, “Oh my God, I haven’t been here in so long!” I bought a ton of fabric and had loads of pants made up.
Does Gavin have a favourite outfit?
He has really good taste. He’s influenced me a lot, to grow up a bit with the way I dress. He doesn’t love bright colours, which is everything I am! I suppose that I do wear slightly more conservative things now, or maybe I just don’t go for the really bright colours as much. I have to grow up. I can’t just stay the same forever.
Do you think this new, grown-up outlook on life has influenced your music?
With the last album, Return Of Saturn, I decided I just wanted to get really good at writing. I started keeping a journal, and I’d never done that. I got the lyrics and poems of Joni Mitchell, which are just genius - she has the most beautiful way of putting thoughts down. She really inspired me. And then Gavin told me about Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and I was so inspired by that and by her journals.
But with Rock Steady we wanted it to be a little more free. I tried to make my writing more conversational. I would be inspired by a day. even a moment. And I didn’t labour over it - I tried to write stuff in an afternoon and then go and record it.
How do you think you’ve changed in the years since the band started?
Things have changed. We have fans now, which is amazing because they give you your life, but we’re still rebels at heart. Like I don’t wear anything that anyone tells me to wear. The whole idea of No Doubt is freedom; creating something on your own. To try to get better and grow. And I’m pretty cool now. or at least I hope I am!
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