The Most Inappropriate Outfits Worn By Gwen Stefani

Gwen Stefani has been known as a fashion icon in her own right since she began with her band No Doubt. From rocking ultra-cropped tops, baggy pants, and lots of mix-and-matched prints to wearing beautiful couture gowns on the red carpet, she knows a thing or two about putting an outfit together, and her style is constantly changing. She described her fashion from her younger days as "a little bit tomboy with like, a little bit glamour," in a 2019 interview with Vogue (via YouTube), and has since stood out for her bold and spunky choices. Stefani even has a few brands of her own, including her fashion line L.A.M.B and her makeup brand GXVE Beauty. Her looks have turned heads so frequently that she was even awarded the Fashion Icon Award at the 2019 People's Choice Awards. 

But there have been moments where some of the "Hollaback Girl" singer's looks have raised eyebrows for being a bit "bananas," and not in a good way. In particular, some of her looks have been criticized and questioned for inching over the line of what's considered cultural appropriation. While Stefani has regarded most of her looks as being inspired by various cultures, some people haven't viewed it the same way. Here are some of her most inappropriate outfits broken down and explained.

In the early days of her career, Gwen Stefani started adding a bindi to her forehead as a part of her No Doubt style, and it's prompted some conversations in recent years surrounding the question of whether it was problematic. Bindis are traditionally worn on the foreheads of Hindu women, and are most commonly believed to correspond with the "third eye." So, many fans wonder why Stefani made the bindi part of her signature style, and what it really means to her.

In her 2019 interview with Vogue, Stefani was shown a picture of her wearing a bindi, next to her No Doubt bandmate, Tony Kanal. "I was so unbelievably fascinated by Indian culture, in particular, because Tony Kanal, who was my boyfriend at the time — he's the bass player of No Doubt — is Indian, from India," she explained. Stefani added that she would be in awe of Kanal's mother whenever she would get all dressed up to attend parties. "I would just be like yeah, I've never seen anything like it, and so she gave me a lot of bindis."

Many critics consider Stefani's bindi-wearing to be cultural appropriation as she is not a Hindu woman, and she has been widely criticized for seeming to popularize the misuse of the bindi for other white women.

Gwen Stefani and her band No Doubt faced heavy criticism for the music video for their song "Looking Hot," after which they were definitely not feeling hot about their stylistic choices. The music video, which has since been taken down, pictured an American Western environment while Stefani wore Native American-style clothing, such as feathers tied to her head and a beaded vest.

Whether the choice of clothing and storytelling was chosen by the director, Melina Matsoukas, or was influenced by the band, it was taken by audiences to be incredibly insensitive to Native American culture. In particular, there is a scene in the video where Stefani and bass player Tony Kanal are dancing around a bonfire and then pictured in a fight against cowboys — Stefani throws a feathered spear before being captured. At the end, Kanal, who is seen stuck inside a jail cell, throws a tomahawk toward the rope constraining Stefani's, cutting her loose to run away.

No Doubt released a statement saying, "As a multi-racial band, our foundation is built upon both diversity and consideration for other cultures. Our intention with our new video was never to offend, hurt or trivialize Native American people, their culture or their history," (via LA Times). The move to take down the video was a good one as many people have pointed out that the whole production made light of colonialism and the history of Native Americans. 

The "Harajuku Girls" era of Gwen Stefani was hard to miss. The album behind this vision was "Love. Angel. Music. Baby." which debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at Number 7 and had two top 10 singles on the Hot 100 chart. Besides the album's success, Stefani released her Harajuku Lovers perfume line around this time and was pictured everywhere with her posse of four Japanese and Japanese-American backup dancers to symbolize Love, Angel, Music, and Baby of Stefani's Harajuku girls. She received mixed reviews for using Japanese culture to publicize her album, and thus came another controversy surrounding whether her actions counted as cultural appropriation.

In a 2021 interview with Paper magazine, Stefani explained that her fascination with Japanese culture was rooted in her childhood because her father would frequently travel to Japan for work. When she started her solo music career, she wanted dancers. "So I had this idea that I would have a posse of girls — because I never got to hang with girls — and they would be Japanese, Harajuku girls, because those are the girls that I love," Stefani told Paper. "Those are my homies. That's where I would be if I had my dream come true, I could go live there and I could go hang out in Harajuku." Although she has made it clear she respects the culture, it becomes an issue when she is commodifying a culture for her own music success.

Gwen Stefani's fashion has always been edgy, but some fans have criticized her on social media for not wearing age-appropriate outfits. But one thing we can be certain of about the singer: She's going to continue rocking the crop top, short skirt, and fun dress, and she's going to look good doing it. In fact, at the same time that she receives hate for wearing fun and seemingly "too young" outfits, she's also always asked how she manages to look so youthful and age-defying.

In a 2024 Instagram post, Stefani wore a patchworked mixed denim skirt and jacket matching set, paired with a bra top and denim boots for the Country Radio Seminar in Nashville. One commenter wrote, "I love her but she dresses like a 15 year old," followed by similar sentiments. Stefani told Glamour in 2014, "For me, fashion is not really about age as much as it is reflecting your personality." That bears a lot of truth looking at the evolution of her style, as she still loves her bare midriff and red lipstick. She merely tries to stay true to who she is, regardless of her age. She told the Daily Telegraph's Stellar in 2021, "It's really hard for everyone to age and have to face life. Especially for females and people who have been in the spotlight it can be daunting, but you tackle it by just trying to be the most beautiful version of yourself inside and out."

Ever since Gwen Stefani started dating Blake Shelton and joined "The Voice," there have been more eyes on her than ever. Her look from the 2023 CMT Awards, in particular, raised a lot of eyebrows. She wore a "business casual" on-the-top and "party" on-the-bottom outfit by Valentino. With an oversized suit jacket, white button-down shirt, and black tie on top, and a gold sequin skirt with fishnet tights and fuzzy black knee-high boots on the bottom, there was a lot going on with this ensemble.

While it didn't exactly say "country music," it did nail a typical "out there" look for Stefani. There was a mix of reviews, with some people wanting to call the fashion police on her, and others defending her honor by cheering her on for being a trendsetter. It might have been seen as inappropriate for the event, but it did get people talking.

While Gwen Stefani's song "Luxurious" was a real banger, the music video, on the other hand, caused some red flags for fans. The song was on Number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 20 weeks, giving people a bit of time to mull over the record and visuals that came along with it. Some people noticed that Stefani included Latina-influenced clothing and makeup, and it raised concerns, yet again, about whether it was inappropriate or not. In the comment section of the music video on YouTube, a lot of users note that they appreciated their cultures being represented. One user commented, "People forget that Gwen grew up in LA. She was surrounded by culture and it influenced her. Just because she's white doesn't mean she can't do the culture she was exposed to and grew to love."

Some critics emphasize that this still counts as appropriating rather than appreciating because Stefani makes money from these videos, therefore commodifying a minority culture in a way. There are more and more conversations surrounding cultural appropriation now that may not have been happening when the music video originally came out in 2004. When discussing how Hispanic cultures have impacted her personally in an interview with Allure, Stefani said, "The music, the way the girls wore their makeup, the clothes they wore, that was my identity."

For longtime fans, Gwen Stefani has been known as an alt-rock-ska icon and Millenium pop princess, but now she is experimenting with country music and country-inspired looks. Being married to Blake Shelton has definitely given her new ideas for music and fashion (and she also credits him with her good looks!). She has been seen wearing a lot more flannel, denim, and tasseled clothing, and she's also making country music with her husband, such as the song "Purple Irises" which was released in February of 2024. She even performed at the 2023 CMT Music Awards.

But Stefani views this shift as a good thing. She told People, "... I think ever since I met my husband, that part of me has really come out in my fashion more than ever." She added, "The femininity that I didn't really embrace for a lot of years, just because of being in a band with all guys and being on stage." Fans on a No Doubt subreddit discussion question her "Blake Shelton Era," as one user put it. One user said they're not a fan of current Stefani, but explained, "... I'll always admire how she basically acts and dresses however she wants to regardless of what anyone else thinks. (Even if it's influenced by who she's currently dating) I'll always think she's cool." Even though it may seem like she's going full country, Stefani is still wholeheartedly embracing her No Doubt era and reunited with her band for Coachella in 2024.