If Gwen Stefani is one thing, it’s consistent.

Throughout her 30+ year career, the singer has taken on many different looks – and one thing many of them have in common is that they have been appropriated from a culture that has no ties to her own.

First, there were her bindi-wearing days in the 90s, the Harajuku phase of the mid-2000s and, of course, the brief phase where she cosplayed as a Chola in the 2004 music video for her song Luxurious.

Then in 2012, she wore Native American attire in No Doubt’s Looking Hot music video, which depicted a fight between cowboys and Native Americans, and most recently the 2022 new music video for the track Light My Fire with Sean Paul and Shenseea, where she sported dreadlocks and wore a dress in the colours of the Jamaican flag: green, black and yellow.

It’s a lengthy list that spans decades and despite the discourse around Stefani’s impact on popular culture and how co-opting other cultures has had a negative impact on those actually a part of them, the singer seemingly fails to see the error of her ways.

In a recent interview with Allure, Stefani spoke to Filipina American journalist Jesa Marie Calaor, where they discussed the launch of her new beauty brand, GXVE Beauty.

While the interview highlighted the launch of Stefani’s latest venture, the topic turned to Stefani’s early career and, specifically, the release of her 2004 debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby and the criticism Stefani received about her Harajuku Girls – a group of Japanese and Japanese American dancers who were included in her music videos and performances at the time – to her Harajuku Lovers perfume, which was a staple in pretty much every teen’s perfume collection in the mid-2000s.

When asked about the era and the subsequent criticism in later years, Stefani explained that when she was growing up, her dad would travel between California and Japan and return home with stories of the country, inspiring her to travel to Harajuku as an adult and experience it first-hand.

“That was my Japanese influence and that was a culture that was so rich with tradition, yet so futuristic [with] so much attention to art and detail and discipline and it was fascinating to me,” she said. “I said, ‘My God, I’m Japanese and I didn’t know it.’”

Calaor described how the words “seemed to hang in the air between us”, with Stefani reportedly insisting: “I am, you know.”

Admittedly, I was a big fan of Stefani in my teenage years (after all, she made hit after hit in the mid-2000s). But a part of growing up is acknowledging how behaviours and moments that were seemingly cool then may be a lot more nuanced and harmful than many of us realised – but this level of reflection isn’t something Stefani seems to be doing. Like, at all.

Reading how Stefani supposedly doubled down on defending her right to culturally appropriate and call herself Japanese is quite something. You have to wonder how much lack of awareness one can have to make such a statement – especially while speaking directly to an Asian American journalist.

Despite mounting criticism and years of people explaining just why her Harajuku era was a form of cultural appropriation, Stefani said that there is an “innocence” to her relationship with Japanese culture.

“If [people are] going to criticise me for being a fan of something beautiful and sharing that, then I just think that doesn’t feel right.

“I think it was a beautiful time of creativity… a time of the ping-pong match between Harajuku culture and American culture. [It] should be OK to be inspired by other cultures because if we’re not allowed then that’s dividing people, right?”

While Calaor said she didn’t feel Stefani was trying to be “malicious”, “words don’t have to be hostile in their intent in order to potentially cause harm” – and she’s absolutely right.

While the argument regarding cultural appropriation usually leans towards ignorance on the perpetrator’s part, Stefani’s comments prove that, for some, there is a wilful ignorance that they chose to embrace.

Stefani’s impact on music and fashion has been largely tied to the various cultures she takes “inspiration” from but has also profited from – and it’s unfortunate that the complexities around this continue to be ignored by the star.

Then there’s the issue of being able to dip your toe in a culture and enjoy the positives of it without having to deal with any of the struggles and biases that community faces.

As reported in Calaor’s interview, between March 2020 and March 2022, there were 11,467 reported hate incidents against Asians across the United States, 917 of them toward Japanese people. 

And to top it all off, this isn’t Stefani’s first and only case of cultural appropriation – it’s been reflected in her career throughout the years.

In 2023, you’d think Stefani would be able to acknowledge that her adopted personas blur the lines between appropriation and appreciation – and ignoring that is a choice and nothing less.

Many shared similar sentiments while discussing her comments on social media.

“It is disappointing that Gwen Stefani is choosing to double-down on her Orientalism in 2023,” commented one user. “I remember how uncomfortable her ‘Harajuku Girls’ era made me almost 20 years ago, but it wasn’t so easy to share those feelings pre-social media.”

Another tweeted: “Gwen has appropriated many cultures over the years and has used the ‘I’m so connected’ excuse and it’s not good enough. You can appreciate cultures now while recognising the complexities and wrongdoings you may have done in the past. Ignoring it and doubling down on it is a clear choice and I hear her loud and clear.”

This isn’t the first time Stefani has commented on cultural appropriation claims

In a 2021 interview with Paper magazine, the singer discussed the backlash to her Harajuku Girl era.

“If we didn’t buy and sell and trade our cultures in, we wouldn’t have so much beauty, you know?” Stefani said. “We learn from each other, we share from each other, we grow from each other. And all these rules are just dividing us more and more.”

She continued: “I think that we grew up in a time where we didn’t have so many rules. We didn’t have to follow a narrative that was being edited for us through social media, we just had so much more freedom.”

Stylist has contacted Stefani’s representatives for comment.

Images: Getty