Parents.com (June 3rd 2019)

Gwen Stefani Shares What Surprised Her Most About Designing Her Tween Eyewear Collection With Her 11-Year-Old Son

The singer, fashion designer, and mom of three chatted exclusively with Parents.com about collaborating with her 11-year-old son Zuma and Tura, Inc. on a new eyewear collection for tweens/teens called Zuma Rock

From making music to coaching up-and-coming talent on The Voice to planning her upcoming Vegas residency and being a successful fashion designer, to say Gwen Stefani has a lot on her plate would be an understatement. While Stefani is undoubtedly proud of all of her projects, the mom of three is especially excited about one she worked on with a very special collaborator: her 11-year-old son Zuma. Together, alongside Tura, Inc., the duo created Zuma Rock, a new line of eyewear for tweens and teens.

Launching today, the line features six optical styles priced at $165 each. Featuring tigers, checkerboard print, an iconic camo pattern, and sporty racing stripes, Stefani and her son wanted the specs' design to be fashionable, edgy, and playful with nods to sport. The collection comes on the heels of Gwen's other collabs with Tura, including L.A.M.B. and gx by Gwen Stefani.

Stefani recently chatted with Parents.com about what it was like to work with Zuma, who has been wearing glasses since he was 5, how they were initially inspired to create the collection, and how Zuma, as well as his brothers Kingston, 13, and Apollo, 5—have surprised her recently.  

Why She Wanted to Create Eyewear for Tweens & Teens

Stefani acknowledges that both kids and adults experience a bit of a love-hate relationship with having to wear glasses. "I feel like it’s kind of a punishment to have to wear glasses," Stefani shares. "I have to wear them myself, and it’s funny, because when I started the line is when I first started needing them. And I was so excited at first, and then, it was like, when you don’t need them, you want them, and then, when you need them you feel like, 'Oh no, I have to go put my glasses on.' So, that’s why I wanted to [create eyewear] for Zuma that he’d love that was cool and different. You go shopping, and it’s like, 'There’s another square pair of blue glasses!' There are no options."

Stefani was soon on a mission to help her son find unique, stylish specs. And once he had the ones they created for Zuma Rock, he got "such a positive reaction" from his peers. "It’s really cute to watch the confidence come out when you have something that’s unique and different and that people notice," Stefani notes.

She wanted the Zuma Rock line to not only offer stylish options for kids like Zuma who need glasses but to be covetable to kids who don't, explaining, "I want to make glasses that kids are like, 'Ooo, Mom, I want to have glasses even if I don’t need them.' They’re cute and they’re cool and they’re fun and they make the kid have a lot of attention."

What It Was Like Working With Zuma

Turns out, Zuma has quite the eye for detail and fashion, just like his mom. "He was super creative, perfectionist," Stefani shares.

The proud mom shares that her 11-year-old has wanted to make his mark with style since he was a toddler. "He wore a costume every day from age 2 to 7," Stefani notes. So, it's no surprise that he's taken this project and run with it. "As far as glasses go, that’s his identity, and I think that it’s been a really positive thing, because he’s been known to wear cool glasses," she says.

Working on Zuma Rock also presented the tween with a unique opportunity to strike out on his own. "He’s the middle kid, so it was really great to be able to have something that was just his," Stefani notes.

What Surprises the Celeb Mom About Her Boys These Days

The experience of working one-on-one with Zuma served as a reminder that her sons are growing up to be unique and special in their own ways. While her eldest, Kingston "has always been quite stylish and concerned about what he wants to wear and has had a sense for that," Zuma has been "more boyish, more typical in the sense that he doesn't care as much" about fashion. But his creativity has always shone through, and it's more noticeable than ever since working on Zuma Rock. 

"I think what probably surprises every parent is how the child is the child," she says. "When they come out on their own, they’re not yours. They’re given to you to help guide ‘em."

Stefani clearly adored helping guide her son through this first collaborative venture. When it comes to what the mother-son power duo will come up with down the pike, only time will tell.