No Doubt Scrapbook

I’m like every other woman. I’m super vain. I have issues.

She’s got style, she’s got songs and, in her leopard-print jumpsuit, she’s got balls. At 37, with a one-year-old baby, Gwen Stefani has finally found pop stardom. She tells Craig McLean about motherhood, self-obsession and her fashion label.

She might be wearing her sparkly leotard-cum-dungarees ensemble. Or a pair of sequined red hot pants. Or a tartan schoolgirl’s uniform. Maybe she’ll have slipped into one of her favourite outfits: armpit-length black leather gloves and monochrome horizontal stripes (imagine an escaped convict hiding out in a burlesque joint).

If you’re reading this on Sunday morning Gwen Renée Stefani will be on stage in Australia, performing her idiosyncratic version of disco funk in front of thousands of tweens, teens and twentysomething pop fans in the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. For 90 sweaty minutes there will be no let-up in the costume changes, choreography - part Broadway show, part cheerleader rally, part hip hop face-off - and belting pop songs. Read the rest of this article »

Hey, Baby

California dreamer Gwen Stefani has proven that she’s much more than “just a girl in the world.” Here the pop icon, new mom, and fashionista gets real about her baby, her band, and living in a bubble.

It’s Friday night in N.Y.C. when Gwen Stefani enters the conference room at the Ritz-Carlton, where I’ve been waiting for over an hour. There aren’t fireworks or rounds of applause or any big fanfare - actually, it’s not much different than when I entered the room, except that she’s Gwen Stefani and, well, I’m me. Her platinum hair is perfectly coiffed; her eyelashes are thick with mascara. She’s wrapped up in a long black coat that she seems to be getting lost in, and she’s holding her seven-month-old son, Kingston, who is decked out in a L.A.M.B onesie. It’s exactly what I imagined that scene would be like. Read the rest of this article »

Blonde ambition

From pop-punk queen to fashion icon, Gwen Stefani has forged a one-woman empire. She exclusively tells ELLE’s Kerry Potter about her rock-star marriage, being a beauty junkie and how hard she’s worked for that body.

Four hours in hair and make-up and Gwen Stefani, 37-year-old multimillion-selling rock star and fashion icon, finally takes centre stage at the ELLE photoshoot. She’s immaculately painted, cartoonishly flawless and Amazonian in stature. White-blonde hair fiercely straightened, wearing a tiny pair of shorts with giant heels, she glares at the camera as her entourage (stylist, hairdresser, make-up artist, US record company execs, nanny) look on silently. So far, so intimidating, until we’re introduced and she immediately breaks into a broad, sunshiney smile. ‘Hey there!’ she says in a girlish all-American drawl and takes my hand. A few days later, we meet again, at a hotel, and this time I remember not to judge a book by its cover. Gwen turns out remarkably unassuming, chatty, free of pretentious pronouncements about her ‘art’, and strangely honest about everything - from how hard she works to stay trim to the problems with a long-distance love affair (she’s married to Brit Gavin Rossdale, former singer in Rock band Bush). Read the rest of this article »

Now and Gwen

She’s got a wardrobe of to-die-for clothes and gets to spend all day making music with Pharrell. We tracked Gwen down and demanded to know why she’s so cool.

Hey Gwen! How are you?
“I’m good, thanks for asking!”

You’ve been so busy. We love the Wind It Up video.
“Thanks. It’s so cool looking. I remember when I was a little girl and I saw The Sound of Music. It was such an inspiration to me. My folks wouldn’t let me watch Grease when it came out… but I did see that and it changed my life. I was able to indulge my theatrical side!” Read the rest of this article »

Go, Gwen! Go!

Our fave rock star-designer dropped some knowledge on what’s it’s like to release a solo CD, and how every good song deserves a slamming outfit. By Crystal Meers.

It’s been two years since the hardest rocking lady in music first graced our cover. Since then Rock Steady and No Doubt’s Greatest Hits have taken the world by storm, lovely L.A.M.B. gear has hit the streets, and that fine fiancé Gavin Rossdale has become the very lucky Mr. Stefani. As if that’s not enough, Gwen somehow found time to team up with powerhouses André 3000 of OutKast, Eve and the Neptunes to make a solo album, which hits stores November 23. It’s totally a big deal. The record, Love Angel Music Baby, is a dance-party dream and marks Gwen’s first magical musical adventure withour the No Doubt family. (Don’t worry - they’re not breaking up!) Read the rest of this article »

Gwen Stefani: Blonde with Extra Bottle

Madonna thinks she is ripping her off but who is the bigger star now?

When Madonna accused Gwen Stefani of copying her style last week - “She ripped me off. She married a Brit, she’s got blonde hair and she likes fashion” - it seemed like business as usual. With a new album to promote, her Madgeness has a habit of slapping down her best friends/rivals. But this time it was personal. Because for many, Stefani is the new Madonna, and her new solo album, Love.Angel.Music.Baby, is the album Madonna should have made. Read the rest of this article »

Working Girl

She works hard for the money, and she ain’t no hollaback girl, but now that the world has embraced Gwen Stefani as the platinum bomb, will she ever find a simple kind of life?

The popular television series The OC and Laguna Beach have made Southern California’s Orange County and attitude like, totally rad. They portray the laidback lifestyle of perfectly aligned palm trees, lazy afternoons, and never-ending spring breaks. Meanwhile, the most famous OC girl of them all, Gwen Stefani, is quietly building her empire as the hardest working girl in show business. Last year, we saw her playing Jean Harlow in Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator, and this year she is high off the phenomenal success of her first solo album - having already achieved worldwide domination as front woman of No Doubt - and summer anthems “Hollaback Girl” and “Cool.” She is also busy spearheading not one but two clothing lines: L.A.M.B (which shares a name with her Love. Angel. Music. Baby. album) and the newly launched Harajuku Lovers. Read the rest of this article »

Crazy Sexy Cool

When queen of cool, Gwen Stefani, scheduled downtime with CG!, we hit her with your must-know questions on guys, fashion and, erm, bananas…

I love your solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Would you have tried this kind of music if you were still in No Doubt? Louise, 15, Essex
What happened was we’d made made a record and after that we said, “We’re going on a break.” No Doubt had never taken a break in 17 years. So I said to Tony [Kamal, No Doubt bass player and Gwen's ex], “Wouldn’t it be fun to do a dance record while we’re on the break, the sort of fun songs we listened to in high school?” So the idea was to work with new people and then return to No Doubt, but I never thought my solo album would be this successful. Read the rest of this article »

I struggle with my weight

She’s gone from high school geek to superstar icon, but Gwen still worries about her bod like the rest of us

Gwendolyn Renee Stefani is so cool we get frostbite just from looking at her, but it hasn’t always been this way for the Californian superstar. So how did the school misfit super-size her street cred? She shares her secrets with bliss…

Have you always been a super-trendy musical genius? We bet you were the popular one at school…
Nooo! I wasn’t a cheerleader or in the choir and I didn’t have loads of friends. I thought I could never influence anyone. My whole room was plastered with Marilyn Monroe posters and I always drew myself as a bride when my teachers asked me to draw myself as a grown-up. Read the rest of this article »

Smart Kooky

Gwen Stefani’s quirky L.A.M.B label is attracting fashion followers and celebrities alike. And for the pop diva, it’s a very serious business, as she tells Lee Carter.

With every recording artist and her chauffeur coming out with a fashion collection, you would think that public interest in the phenomenon would be waning. But standing head and high-collar above the rest is Gwen Stefani, the No Doubt lead singer whose nascent L.A.M.B label possesses all the punch of the mediagenic mogulette herself. For Stefani, her own private fashion brand ranks as “the most surreal and gorgeous thing going on right now”. Read the rest of this article »