Style Envy: Gwen Stefani, Part II

A few weeks ago, I was in Vegas for the BDay party for one of my fave lawyerly girl friends.  I had a free afternoon when everyone was off hitting the blackjack tables, so I engaged in the holy union of two of my fave vices:  shopping while day drinking.

90% of the reason I make an effort to swing by the H&M at Caesar's Palace every time I'm in Vegas is because that one in particular has this amazing in-store DJ who is always on point.  While waiting in the check out line, said DJ played a medley of Settle Down/ Looking Hot/ Hella Good.  This prompted a full-on No Doubt singalong courtesy me and the five comparably inebriated girls behind me in line. If any of you ever see this floating around YouTube, let me know. I will laugh so hard.

That really inspired me to bust out my No Doubt catalog once I got home from the trip.  I found this album called "Everything in Time" on Spotify, which is a fairly recent release of B-sides.  It is so good.  Really heavy on the early reggae influence, which I think is when they sound the best.  I think this one is way better than most of their real album releases.

Which in turn, inspired me to put together some of my more Gwen- inspired outfits again.  Pics coming soon. Gwen= my fashion hero since I was 13 years old.

Style Envy: Gwen Stefani

My friend Jen and I were just talking about this last night, so I think this post is fitting.  When I was a kid and No Doubt blew up, I found one of my first fashion icons in Gwen Stefani.  The bindis, the long burgundy nails, the baggy camo pants or adidas track pants paired with crop tops, jeweled bra straps under white tanks or tube tops, lace up boots, rasta wristbands; the lady had style!  Everything she wore was very her.

I later read an interview in which she confessed that her style is not original at all, that she draws inspiration from a mishmosh of things that inspire her, such as the chola girl style in Long Beach when she was in high school, the punk rockers, and old Hollywood style.  I still think that she has a superb eye for arranging her inspirations in a way that works on her.  While it may not be completely original, what is nowadays?  She makes her numerous style inspirations work for her, which I think ends up being unique in its own way.  And that is the kind of fashion philosophy I try to adopt as well.