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Revision with unchanged content. With the release of her debut solo album, 2004 s Love. Angel. Music. Baby., No-Doubt front-woman Gwen Stefani turned to the street fashions of Tokyo s Harajuku district for her inspiration. The platinum-blonde Stefani promoted herself by being constantly surrounded with an entourage of four voiceless Asian women, dubbed her Harajuku Girls . They were on her CD cover, she dedicated a track to them, they performed in her videos, and they danced on her Harajuku Lovers live tour. Stefani even re-named them, Love , Angel , Music , and Baby after her new record and clothing line, L.A.M.B.. This study examines how the Harajuku Girls function as Stefani s human accessories silent, sexed-up, submissive, school-girl muses sent to save her from her dull whiteness. I introduce Stefani as an intertextual celebrity who appropriates, absorbs and cross-references cultural texts and ethnicities in order to market and brand herself as a distinct entity in the worlds of music and fashion.

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is a Toronto-based writer, TV producer and tennis player. She recently completed her MA in Media Studies at Concordia University.

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