|
|
|
|
 Photos from the show: From the front row to the runway
|
|
|
See what it was like backstage at the show
|
|
|
Fashion icon: 10 years of Gwen's style
|
|
|
|
|
|
Browse Bands by Name
|
|
Or enter a band name below to search:
|
 Bands Main
|
|
|
|
|
|
— by Jennifer Vineyard
Gwen Stefani is late. Her very first L.A.M.B. fashion show is set to start at 8 p.m. at New York's Roseland Ballroom, and it's already 8:45. There are so many celebrities — Diddy, Ashanti, Damon Dash, Kelly Osbourne, Nicky Hilton — that some even spill over from the coveted front row into (gasp!) the second row. But celeb or no, everyone's in the same boat — sitting and waiting, listening to the overture from "The Sound of Music," which has been played so many times that people start whispering that no one ever needs to see that movie again.
As the house lights dim, an ominous guitar sounds and a black light falls on four cars that are hiked up hydraulically and parked on the catwalk, which start honking as their white sheets are pulled off and models emerge from inside. And instead of a straight take on "The Sound of Music" score, it's now become a remix, incorporating bits and pieces not only of Gwen's music (with three new songs as well as a few recognizable ones from Love, Angel, Music, Baby) but also tracks from her husband Gavin Rossdale's new band, Institute.
Model after model proceeds down the walkway, which is sprinkled with white powder and glitter, wearing flowing dresses and gowns with prints of snakeskin, chrysanthemum and wisteria, as the song mix incorporates the looks parading by: "Wisteria blossom/ Creeping through my heart ..."
The outfits keep coming — gangster trench coats, scalloped blazers, pencil skirts, cropped jodhpurs, track pants, drawstring blouses — and various "looks" begin to emerge. Like something Gwen calls "Gatsby Rasta," combining patrician English countryside wear with a Rastafarian color scheme, and another she calls "Pirate Trooper," a look inspired by paratrooper jumpsuits and Vivienne Westwood's 1970s buccaneers. After the last piece is modeled — a mix silk wedding gown — Gwen takes her turn on the runway. To the chorus of "Hollaback Girl," she walks out, all smiles and waves, pantomimes tears running down her face, and, mouthing the words to her song, raises her arms in victory, bows and walks off.
"Just don't wake me up!" Gwen gushes afterwards, hanging out backstage with a crowd of reporters and well-wishers. "Because I'm saying, that was pretty great. That was beyond any dream I've ever had. It was so incredible, just to be able to have a show and to be able to share it with everyone in that kind of way ... and all these unbelievable, beautiful, tall skinny girls that I just want to hit because they're so pretty, walking in the clothes. It was extraordinary."
So extraordinary that it cost a million dollars — which she was luckily able to convince Sony Computer Entertainment to pony up, in exchange for placing promotional PSPs in the front-row seats.
This blown-out fashion extravaganza is a far cry from her more humble beginnings as a teenager in Anaheim, California, in the heart of Orange County. There, she'd follow her mother to the fabric store and her mom would let her choose her own buttons, zippers, and threads and encouraged her to make her own clothes. Gwen's taste evolved, and she went from wearing tomboyish overalls, jumpers, and baseball caps to finding pegged men's pajama bottoms and making corset-style drop-waist dresses with cheerleader skirts, which she'd pair with boxer shorts, fishnets and Doc Martens. "That was it," Gwen says. "Suddenly you hit puberty, and it's like, you know, thrift stores! I just started deconstructing everything from thrift stores."
|
|
|
|
Photo: Getty Images/ MTV News
|
|
|
|
|
