MUSIC INSIGHT
by publisher Karin Sawetz
October 2010
Karin Sawetz is journalist, media researcher and fashion scientist (Mag. Dr. phil.).

On 26 October, on that day the Austrians are celebrating 'Nationalfeiertag' (more info below*), I came accidently across the 'Wind it up' video by Gwen Stefani, which I consider one of the most interesting music products of the last years that goes hand in hand with fashion.

It is not only because of my personal affection for the video's 'The Sound of Music'-motives what makes me writing this music insight. 'The Sound of Music' movie from 1965 with Julie Andrews in the role of an Austrian woman from a convent who becomes a super-nanny - God beware - is not one of my favorite ones; I don't even understand why it was such a success. But the traditional folk music elements in the song 'Wind it up', which is an interpretation of 'The Lonely Goatherd' from the soundtrack, are very familiar to me as I am an Austrian - especially the yodeling. Cultural heritage is sometimes hard to take.

What makes this music video interesting for Fashionoffice is the fact that it is a landmark of a fashion label by a musician, which was not only a one-season PR-campaign but is taken in the last seasons more and more seriously by the fashion scene. Gwen Stefani launched her own fashion line L.A.M.B. (Love Angel Music Baby) with this music track and video (on this page below) in 2006. She sings: "They like the way that L.A.M.B. is going cross my shirt".

In September 2010, Gwen Stefani presented her new SS2011 collection showing colorful tribal prints during New York Fashion Week. Check out the L.A.M.B. SS2011 runway video and the interview with Gwen Stefani about the style of the new collection.

*The day remembers that the last soldier from the occupation troupes after the 2nd World War left officially Austria in 1955 and the beginning of Austria's status as a neutral country. Since 1965, the Austrians are celebrating on this day the country's independence.

Video: 'Wind It Up' by Gwen Stefani. (C) 2006 Interscope Records.

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