OK Magazine [AU] (March 1st 2010)

Why We Love Gwen

Lead singer, solo artist, fashion designer, fragrance diva and mum - it’s hard to believe Gwen Stefani wasn’t cool in high school!

Gwen Stefani is a force of nature, having found success with her band No Doubt, as a solo artist and with her fashion lines L.A.M.B. and Harajuku Lovers. OK! caught up with the 40-year-old to talk style, body hang-ups and awkward teenage years...

What were you like back in school?

I was very passive and a goody two-shoes Catholic girl. And I wasn't very good at school, not because I didn't try, but because it was academically hard for me. I was really into music and I started my band No Doubt. By the time I got into [high] school I had just started to get cuter. I had always been this chubby girl and then I grew and I got into ninth grade and I was really into Madness and those kind of ska bands - that defined who I was and my look. I was really into making clothes.

What did you look like back then?

Like a rounder version of who I am now. I had a really short bob and wore hoop earrings and was really into Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly and old Hollywood stars and all the ska bands.

Was your size an issue for you then?

I was never really a shy person, but during those teenage years you always have your insecurities, and I can remember feeling not happy with the way I looked, wanting not to be fat. But everybody feels that way. I remember it being really hard for me, because I always had to deal with it, I always had to struggle with it, so it'd be this boring thing I hated. And I remember thinking that I wished could be like that girl over there who was so skinny and got to eat whatever she wanted.

You're quite a fitness fanatic now. Is that something that started then?

I always had to exercise. I was really chubby in sixth grade and then I kind of got it off, and then it came back. Then I was kind of like,'You know what? I've had enough of this up and down thing' - and I got on the swim team and I was determined not to be that chubby girl anymore. And ever since then I've been able to control it, but it sucks. I've spent a lot of time wasted on it, thinking about it. Nowadays I just try to realise how stupid it is, because nobody cares - except me. People like me no matter if I'm five pounds heavier or not. It's so dumb.

So do you think you were a cool kid?

No. I don't even think I'm cool now. [Laughs] Ever since I was a little girl I've been into the same things. We'd come home from school and would say to my friends,'Go ask your mum if we can borrow some make-up', and we'd put on make-up and play with Barbie dolls and dress up. I'm still doing the same thing now - putting on make-up and dressing up!

Did your fashion sense stand out in school?

Yeah, I think I did. Because I was into ska, I was a ska-girl and there was a look you would follow - clothes from the '50s and '60s, little tights and little pencil skirts and little sweaters. I didn't make it up, it was a look from the ska days, which was like a whole movement that happened in England in the 70s and '80s and then we discovered it. It was very underground. There were hardly any other ska-girls at my school.There were mods and definitely a lot of ska-boys.

What about your platinum hair - when did that start?

That didn't come till way later. I always coloured my hair but I never went platinum, because I couldn't afford to have it done and get it done over and over again. And I don't think my mum would have been really happy if I came home and had it done, but I always wanted to do it because I was always into Marilyn Monroe and the old Hollywood starlets. But when Tony [from No Doubt] broke up with me, actually that's when I had it done. I was probably 25.That was right before The Tragic Kingdom came out. We'd already been a band for nine years then.