Teen Vogue (Dec. 2005)
Material Girl
You’ll have to excuse Gwen Stefani if she’s a little tired.
“Gavin and I celebrated our third anniversary last night,” the platinum-haired platinum recording artist divulges, referring, of course, to her handsome British rocker husband. “He took me out for this romantic dinner, and I ate about four sticks of butter,” she laughs, patting her perfectly toned tummy.
The irony is, this may have been the only occasion in the past month when Gwen has actually had time to sit down for a meal. “Let’s see, I gotta rehearse for the Harajuku Lovers tour, learn the dances, shoot a video, make the clothes for the tour, and,” she adds, running down the exhausting laundry list that is her life, “I’ve gotta finish spring.”
Spring is, in fact, Gwen’s main focus at the moment. In just 24 hours, the pop-star-cum-designer will send her L.A.M.B. collection down the runway at New York Fashion Week for the first time ever. To prep, the very public figure has camped out in her Manhattan design studio for the better part of the summer, knee-deep in sketches and fabric samples. “I haven’t had a finale up until this point,” she says. “I want that exclamation point. I’m ready to raise my hand and go, ‘Come look at my baby!’”
And unlike some celebrity designers, there’s no doubt of Gwen’s role in the creation of her baby, aka collection. Her reference points read like a breakdown of the jumbled pastiche that’s turned her into a style icon: Rasta (delivered now in more elegant, muted tones), the O.C. chola girl (think graphic, glam tracksuits), and even a little Great Gatsby (a nod to her red carpet alter ego). “We’re doing evening dresses for the first time,” she enthuses, “drop-waist tanks, but in cotton, so they can be night or beach. Everything is really wearable that way.” She would know. She’s already test-driven half the samples.
“I’m really passionate about this, and Im in it for the long run,” she insists. “This is just the very, very beginning. Music is so draining for me, mentally. It’s hard, but with clothes its like, whatever! I have endless ideas. I’m always going to think of something else I want to wear. Even if it does mean losing sleep.”