Gwen Stefani's Most Inappropriate Outfits Yet

Gwen Stefani has been an icon since her days in No Doubt, and her closet has become just as legendary. The band formed back in 1986 when Stefani was just 17 years old, but her powerful vocals and fearless attitude commanded the stage like she was a seasoned pro. The group and Stefani would quickly find their aesthetic, following the laid-back glamour of street style.

The band's wardrobe was a combination of their personal preferences and the cultural zeitgeist of the time, which can be attributed to the fact that No Doubt didn't have a stylist. Tiny tank tops, oversized cargo pants, wallet chains: they were a picture-perfect fantasy of punk-rock all on their own. However, as Stefani continued to let her fascination and exploration with fashion grow, she landed herself in some hot water. She began incorporating elements from other cultures into her looks, which led to a long history of the "Don't Speak" singer being accused of cultural appropriation.

Despite the backlash, Stefani continued to let her fascination with other cultures drive many of her creative decisions. Eventually, No Doubt stopped touring in 2015, but Gwen Stefani's style continued to evolve. In 2014, Stefani met her future husband, country music star Blake Shelton. One of the red flags in Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton's marriage is that she has been slowly but surely moving more towards conservatism, in her beliefs, in her music, and even in her style. On the other hand, when she steps back into one of those traditional '90s ensembles, some fans accuse her of dressing too young for her age, but that never stops the star from wearing whatever she feels like. Without further ado, let's take a look back at the extensive list of Gwen Stefani's most controversial outfits.

As mentioned previously, Gwen Stefani has a long and loaded past of cultural appropriation. This first began back in the '90s when she started wearing bindis — a decorative mark on the forehead worn by women in South Asia — while performing. Sometimes, she even wore a sari as well, which is a traditional Indian garment. Many found issues with these ensembles, but the "Sweet Escape" singer has no regrets. She's explained that the intention behind these looks was a "symbol of cultural exchange" with her Indian-American bandmate and then-boyfriend Tony Kanal. "The Specials and The Selecter and all those groups, and what they were doing in the late '70s was this whole kind of anti-racism, we come together, Black and white ska movement," she remarked during an interview with Paper Magazine in May 2021, defending her style choices.

Gwen Stefani's hair has had a complete transformation of its own, with another look that Stefani frequented in the '90s being protective hairstyles, like cornrows or bantu knots, both originating from Africa. Again, this is problematic for obvious reasons. On one occasion in November 1997, she combined all of her favorite style trends for one extremely tone-deaf look. For the 5th Annual Race to Erase MS Gala, she wore a black tank top with an orange-and-silver sari worn as a skirt, accessorizing with a bindi and wearing her blond tresses in bantu knots: certainly not an outfit that would slide in this day and age.

In 2004, Gwen Stefani released her debut solo album titled "Love. Angel. Music. Baby," which heavily implemented aspects of Harajuku: an eccentric area of Tokyo, Japan, categorized by bright colors, youth culture, and creative expression. Stefani dove headfirst into her fascination with the aesthetic, creating a plethora of controversial moments.

This was when she began performing with the Harajuku Girls, her four backup dancers of Asian descent. "I never got to have dancers with No Doubt. I never got to change costumes. I never got to do all of those fun girl things that I always love to do. 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," she said during her interview with Paper. That was a main point of scrutiny, though, as the Harajuku girls were often dressed in stereotypical Japanese attire and makeup. For instance, at the Billboard Music Awards in December 2004, Stefani was wearing a white checkered dress while her backup dancers were all in "Sailor Moon" style schoolgirl outfits with red dots painted on their cheeks. It seems as though Stefani was using her dancers as dress-up dolls or accessories, rather than her employees.

Despite the years of controversy surrounding this era, Stefani released Harajuku Lovers, a series of fragrances and clothing lines in 2008, and Harajuku Mini, a children's clothing line, in 2011. Once again, Stefani has doubled down on her choices. During an interview with Allure from January 2023, the singer recounted witnessing Harajuku culture in real life for the first time. "I said, 'My God, I'm Japanese and I didn't know it,'" she said, then insisting, "I am, you know."

In November 2012, Gwen Stefani woke up and decided she was going to embrace Indigenous culture. The media went into a frenzy when No Doubt released its music video for "Looking Hot," and let's just say it wasn't for how good they looked. The original video made a mockery of the "Cowboys and Indians" narrative, with Stefani playing the damsel in distress with a feather headpiece, dancing in a teepee, riding a horse, and wearing her hair in braids. She pretty much used every stereotype in the book.

The video was met with an outpouring of backlash, causing the band to quickly wipe it from the internet and administer an apology. In the now-deleted statement, No Doubt wrote, "Our intention with our new video was never to offend, hurt or trivialize Native American people, their culture or their history. Although we consulted with Native American friends and Native American studies experts at the University of California, we realize now that we have offended people" (per The Hollywood Reporter).

Gwen Stefani's apology tour after the contentious "Looking Hot" music video was cut short when she dressed in a Native American costume for an episode of "The Voice" in April 2016. The singer was performing her new single "Misery," but many couldn't get past her look.

She wore her hair in an intricate, traditionally Indigenous, braided hairstyle with one braid on the top tying back into a bun, and two side braids fastened by leather hair wraps. The rest of the ensemble consisted of a feather collar, a red-and-black bodice, and a fringe skirt. Her backup dancers were doing tribal dances and in traditional Native American garb as well.

This had the internet riled up all over again. When Stefani posted a close-up of her hairstyle to Instagram, she committed another critical faux pas. Hairstylist Kia Scott was the one who braided her hair, and Stefani failed to give her any actual credit. To make matters worse, Scott is a Black woman, causing people in the comments to discuss both their qualms with Stefani's performance and accuse her of racism. One wrote, "You're like the og culture vulture," while another shared, "Not only is a white girl doing other people's cultural hairstyle but doesn't even acknowledge a black woman for it ..."

Gwen Stefani stepped back into her No Doubt wardrobe while she was being interviewed on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" in September 2022, but it may be time she finally throws in the towel. For her chat, the "Hollaback Girl" singer wore a black bodycon dress with cutouts at the midriff, adding a pop of color with long blue fringe and purple fishnet sleeves. It's not that the outfit itself was inappropriate in general, but perhaps there was a better choice for a sit-down talk-show interview. To her credit, Stefani's arms looked incredible, but this 'fit still seemed more suited to the club.

Fans took to Stefani's Instagram post to praise her outfit, but that still doesn't make it appropriate for the setting. Some viewers commenting on the video on YouTube, however, noted that they didn't like the outfit in this context. "Really sad that she has morphed into a blonde Kardashian like person," one wrote, taking into account the outfit along with Stefani's hair and nails.