Gwen Stefani's Supersonic Style Evolution

Before she was "just a girl," Gwen Stefani was just a SoCal tomboy, hanging with her band, taking art classes at Cal State, and playing the occasional ska show at the Whisky a Go-Go. Gwen's early notions of style were endearing: she used to staple, paint, and sew her own costumes, which often resembled rompers or pajamas. Onstage, she often appeared as a human black jack, a fun way of deflecting the gaze of the grotty males that would turn up at early No Doubt shows to ogle Stefani, usually the token female on otherwise testosterone-fueled lineups. As a post-adolescent in the early 90s, she fell victim to the unavoidable Zubaz pant trend. But as she addressed in "Sunday Morning" years later, Stefani's early looks were simply the product of taking too many style cues from the opposite sex: willfully "out of fashion...so [she] can complain."

By Colleen Nika