CNN.com has finally posted the interview with Gwen that was conducted last month during NY Fashion Week-there doesn’t appear to be a video,but CNN has posted a slideshow of Gwen’s fashions through the years.
New York (CNN) — With her platinum blonde locks and pillarbox-red lips, singer-songwriter Gwen Stefani is one of Hollywood’s most influential style icons.
As a solo artist and as lead singer of band “No Doubt,” Stefani has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. But her influence stretches far beyond music.
Her innate sense of style and unbelievable power to start trends has created one of the most successful celebrity fashion labels — LAMB.
“For me it’s not that deep,” says Stefani. “For me the line is genuinely for myself. I want to make a line of clothes that I want to wear — it’s kind of selfish.”
Selfish or not, it’s the key to her brand’s success.
Since 2004, LAMB (Love Angel Music Baby) has created a line of clothing Stefani has not only had a hand in designing, but has been regularly seen wearing — the range epitomizing her “look” and her “personality.”
“I think fashion is more of a fun sort of thing,” Stefani says. “It’s an expression of yourself and your personality and your mood, it’s not something we take super deep.”
“I’m not going to ever be a Vivienne Westwood … ” she adds. “I’m trying to make clothes to wear everyday, that’s what LAMB is. It’s not a couture line.”
“What qualifies me? I don’t have qualifications really. I don’t have technical qualifications. I just have a vibe of what I like and I have strong opinions about what I like and what is me.”
Despite this lack of “technical qualifications,” Stefani has had a long love affair with fashion — designing many of her early stage outfits for performances with No Doubt.
“I just always liked getting dressed up and playing with make-up and hair,” says Stefani. “My mum and her mum and her mum, they all made clothes … every holiday we would go to TJY, a little fabric store, and look at patterns and pick out our outfits.”
“When I started with the band, when I was 17, I would waste all my time at school thinking about it (fashion) and drive to the fabric store and just find stuff.
“I didn’t know how to sew very well, it really was like using glue guns and velcro and just trying to make it work. I think it all came from the music really — just trying to find fun outfits for the stage.”
For Stefani, music and fashion have always been intertwined.
“Music is the fire, so I have to start there … always pull from the same inspiration every season, always from music,” she says.
“But singer or fashion designer, that’s tough because they go hand in hand.”
Ironically it was the thought of a declining music career which prompted Stefani to set up the fashion label.
“I started the line honestly because nine or 10 years ago I didn’t know how long I would be doing music.
“They ask you ‘What are you going to do in 10 years,’ and I didn’t know, I just though by then I want to have a family and I’m not going to be doing music but I wanted to do something creative.”
Seven years on and Stefani is still creating chart topping music and still has her finger on the creative pulse — creating her own style, be it in music or fashion.
“I think everyone has a style, style is just your personality. I don’t know if it’s better or worse, I think fashion is not that deep. It’s clothes, it’s just fun.”