Footwear News (Nov. 7th 2005)

Blonde Ambition

She ain't no Hollaback Girl, that's for sure.

Gwen Stefani glides into the room looking every bit the glam rock star. Her platinum blonde tresses are swept into a modified up-do culminating in a sleek ponytail that extends halfway down her back. Decked in toe-to-head spring '06 L.A.M.B., her signature fashion line, pop music's reigning queen of cool strikes a commanding (but super-friendly) pose in 4-inch knee-high wedge boots.

Yet Stefani has not come to the Barneys New York flagship on Madison Avenue this Wednesday afternoon in the role of music artist, but rather as a hot young designer launching her latest category: men's shoes.

"I can't believe my shoes are at Barneys," Stefani gushed during a private audience with Footwear News just prior to her in-store appearance to promote the retail debut. "I'm so happy, and I'm so proud of the shoes. They're everything that I would wear."

Barneys New York Chairman and CEO Howard Socol was equally enthusiastic about the launch collaboration. "What's amazing is the variety of [Stefani's] talent. She's a musical genius and a style icon," Socol told FN. "We don't carry something just because a star is behind it; that's just not Barneys. What's important is that the clothes really have an appropriate sensibility for our customer. She really has a point of view on apparel, and obviously now shoes. The shoes have a `cool' interest to them."

While he declined to offer a specific figure, Socol said he expects sales of the men's shoes to be "very good." (On the women's side, Barneys currently carries L.A.M.B. apparel, but not footwear.)

The men's L.A.M.B. footwear collection, which, like all L.A.M.B. footwear, is produced under license by Royal Elastics, will be sold through holiday '05 exclusively at the Madison Avenue and Beverly Hills Barneys stores and at select Barneys CO-OP doors including those in Miami, Chicago and Chevy Chase, Md. For spring, distribution will be expanded to include better department stores and independents.

There are four men's shoes, which take their names from the label's initials: Love, Angel, Music and Baby. Each style retails for $180 and is available in two colorways. There are also 900 pairs of a third Love colorway, a Barneys exclusive, in olive, gold and red (pictured). Stefani said she wanted that shoe to be "a little bit toned down" -- compared to, say, the shiny gold version (also pictured) -- and "easier to wear since guys are a little shy." The color of the gum outsole was inspired by Stefani's predilection for square caramel candies.

While speaking about other creative stimuli, Stefani joked that what most inspires her these days is rest: "Sleep is a really good inspiration for me. I'm totally on tour right now, which is just all consuming and draining." (She performed to rave reviews at New York's Madison Square Garden the night before the Barneys appearance.)

"My whole thing is masculine/feminine," Stefani continued. "A lot of times I wear a men's tennis shoe, and a lot of the [L.A.M.B.] girls' shoes are really boys' shoes."

That will soon change, though. As reported in FN, the spring '06 women's footwear collection has been expanded to include dressier looks, including the boot she wore at Barneys.

"The idea was to push it [forward]. I kept trying to do a high-heeled tennis shoe, I really wanted to do a high-heeled Wallabee. This boot is one of the things we came up with," Stefani explained. "We also did what I call a `bag boot,' which I'm so into. It's like a skate/tennis shoe slip-on, but with a baggy [finish] -- like in Japan where the girls wear the really wide leg-warmer socks. They're wicked. I've been wearing them every night on stage. I think guys could wear them as well; a lot of my guy friends have been asking me about them."

Now that she has bowed men's footwear, might apparel be next on Stefani's to-do list? "That's where you start sweatin' me," she responded with a somewhat weary laugh. "I have a lot of ideas, and I've done a few little things for my friends, but that's a whole other ballgame and I think it would take me a while to learn it. Maybe someday."

As she headed out to greet the crowd assembled in the third-floor shoe section at Barneys, Stefani steeled herself for the crush of photographers and VIP shoppers. "Well, at least my shoes are comfortable," she quipped. Spoken like a pro.