Gwen Wants LP Out This Year, Finds Fashion Inspiration In 'Scarface'
NEW YORK — Gwen Stefani has great news for fans who want the singer to bring back her "Hollaback" vibe.
"It's part two to the [Love, Angel, Music, Baby] record," Stefani said of her second, yet-untitled solo album.
"It's a no-brainer, fun thing to do compared to doing music, which is very emotional and hard." — Gwen Stefani on fashion
On Friday, the No Doubt singer presented her spring 2007 L.A.M.B. collection to rain-drenched fashion insiders such as Mena Suvari and Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour. The new mom dished to MTV News about her upcoming LP, her fashion inspirations and 4-month-old son Kingston James (see "Gwen Stefani Delivers Baby Boy").
Stefani hopes the record, which she calls "ear candy,"
drops before 2007 (see "Gwen Stefani Holding Off On That Second Solo LP — For Now, Anyway"). She said she won't stray too far from what worked on her successful solo debut, even recycling some familiar collaborators.
"
There's a lot of songs that were left over from the last album, and there's some new songs I did with Pharrell," she said. "There's a lot of Pharrell on this record. I did some stuff with [No Doubt's] Tony [Kanal] and some stuff with Akon."
MTV News also caught up with
Swizz Beatz during Fashion Week (see "Fashion Week Update: Christina Milian Hikes Up Her Pants, 'Project Runway' Final Four Debut"), and he said he's working with Gwen too.
"She's always taking it to the next level," he said. "I love her background for music. She likes a lot of Caribbean sounds with hard beats."
As for her fashion line, Gwen took a page from Elvira Hancock's handbook. The "Scarface" blond bombshell, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, halted all conversation when she entered a room, wearing tight silk gowns, draping chemises and slick white suits with bold confidence and a no-nonsense attitude.
All these qualities made Hancock the perfect inspiration for Stefani's L.A.M.B. collection. At the intimate show Friday, models wore blond-bob wigs and showcased more than 45 looks, including braided gowns, sweater tube tops, scoop turtlenecks, khaki suits, long cream gowns, off-the-shoulder dresses, yellow track jackets, gold motorcycle jackets and white skinny pants. There were lots of funky prints in the mix too, ranging from origami to cheetah to tie-dye.
It was a much broader and more sophisticated line than last season's thuggish collection (see "Gwen Previews New Songs, Clothing Line For Diddy, Kravitz, Others") — which means L.A.M.B. could replace even more fashion lines in department stores like Bloomingdale's and Macy's.
Stefani had on a long, sultry black gown with cheetah trim, wearing red lipstick with her hair in pin curls.
"This was the dress that inspired me," she told MTV News about her outfit. "And it was a friend of mine that had this silhouette, and that's what made me start thinking about that time period —
the Michelle Pfeiffer late '70s, early '80s.
"And then I always have that Jamaican 1970s rude boy [look] in there," she added. "And there are scenes from some international, global-print inspirations as well. There were some old vintage men's kimonos that we got some of the prints from, and we always add in an animal print, so this time there was a mama cheetah and a baby cheetah. And just trims from India and stuff from Guatemala and stripes."
Gwen's favorites include a gold motorcycle jacket that was "a vintage coat that I had bought while I was pregnant and we copied the fabric." She also loves the cheetah print and the "high-heel jean."
"You can wear them tight or loose and with heels," she said. "They make you look really skinny. And I think the cheetah print will look good on anyone. It goes with everybody's personality. I always love an animal print."
Stefani said she still has fun with the collection and calls it her "art project."
"It's a no-brainer, fun thing to do compared to doing music, which is very emotional and hard," Stefani said. "That's the thing that weighs me down, but it also is the fire for everything. It's a draining, emotional process compared to designing, which is very greedy and easy."
Gwen's hubby, Gavin Rossdale, told MTV News he was "clearly very proud" of his wife's fashion work.
"From what I've seen, it's good," he said. "It's very stylish, and it's got lots of good attitude."
Gwen's baby, Kingston, was backstage during the show.
"The baby is amazing," Gwen said. "He just had his little food backstage, and now he's having a nap. It's bizarre how he fits in, and I didn't know how it was going to work out. He's just there, and it's just exciting to know that I can go around the corner and just kiss him if I need to. He's the most delicious thing you've ever experienced. It's like a three-dimensional amazing thing to my life."
