Tragic Fugdom

I have to admit, I’ve always had a fondness for Gwen Stefani — with a brief time out for the Wacky Footless White Tights and Silent Harajuku Girls as Accessories period. That was just weird. Perhaps it’s because we share a love of leopard print, I don’t know. But it’s hard not to give it up for someone who clearly is really creative about what she wears, even if what she wears is totally nutola. And god knows, it’s no secret that Gwen cares about what she looks like. In fact, until about ten minutes ago, I misheard the “What You Waiting For” lyric “I can’t wait to go back and do Japan/Get me lots of brand new fans/Osaka, Tokyo/You Harajuku girls/Damn, you’ve got some wicked style,”  as “I can’t wait to go back and do Japan/Get me lots of brand new fans/Osaka, Tokyo/Your hair is sure good, girls/Damn, you’ve got some wicked style,” meaning that, you know, she can’t wait to go back to Japan because all the girls there are wearing awesome outfits and have really great hair. This did not seem weird to me. Obviously Gwen would notice what everyone was wearing everywhere she went. She thinks about these things. Which is why I am mildly alarmed by this:



Photo courtesy of Celebrity Babylon.
Why, yes, those are men’s briefs poking out from the top of what I presume are Gavin’s old jeans, circa “Machinehead.” And in the interest of full disclosure, I am pretty sure that I wore the Boyfriend Jeans, tight polo shirt and Birkenstocks look more than once while I was in college (it was the 90s, dude. I woke up every morning to the guy next door warbling that, despite all his rage, he was still just a rat in a cage).  She looks comfortable and cute, in a ratty kind of way, and it all just takes me back — what can I say? Howevs: what’s with the undies?  Unlike in certain other cases, I have full confidence that when Gwen shows us her delicates, she knows she’s doing it.  So, much as we all found ourselves looking for our own silent gang of artfully coiffed and wardrobed individuals of the nationality of our choice two years ago, are we likewise about to enter a period where it’s trendy for girls to sport men’s underwear? Because that seems too much like high school, when I wore boxers all the time. (Not as underwear. As shorts. My actual underwear is none of your business. Okay, except maybe for you -- you’re cute.)