Gwyneth Paltrow forever

Emulating a style icon

Jul 21, 2022

I get it. Gwyneth Paltrow, originator of quotes such as “I’d rather smoke crack than eat cheese from a tin” and “You know, I use organic products, but I get lasers. It’s what makes life interesting, finding the balances between cigarettes and tofu,” is polarizing. The reasons you might hate her are the reasons I love her as a public figure. She does and says ridiculous shit. She peddles potentially harmful woo-woo bullshit mostly to wealthy women. It’s my opinion that the unhinged content and vagina candles are somewhat misunderstood - take a look, for instance, at the outrage sparked by what was clearly an awareness campaign.

The health and wellness sphere is one full of grifters. If you’re going to grift, at the very least you can make a spectacle out of it. That’s much more than Poosh can say, whose uncreative content-mill generated blogs (which center on restriction, self-flagellation and appeasing men) can’t begin to compete with the crazy stuff Goop is publishing daily (which centers on a type of luxury I cannot begin to comprehend). Not to pit two girl bosses against each other. Like, if we’re going to be out-of-touch, just full send it to outer space, you know?

Anyways I’m not sure why I started on about Goop when really what I want to focus on is Gwyneth, the style icon. When I think back on her iconic looks and every day outfits, I see someone with a daring yet cohesive personal style. Many of these looks, from her velvet Gucci blazer to her green Great Expectations two-piece, live in my head rent-free.

Personal style is the only way to escape the rapidly increasing trend cycle. I’ve been trying to be more intentional about my own personal style. Amy Smilovic, founder and creative director of Tibi, uses a paradigm I have found helpful - part of which includes deciding upon three over-arching adjectives for your way of dress. Amy’s words are “chill, modern and classic.” Gwen’s I would say are “elegant, charming and slinky.” When she’s experimenting with 90s grunge or wealthy coastal heiress looks, she ultimately sticks to her sense of self - these adjectives. I think when we can define these words for ourselves, it becomes easier to play with fashion while still “feeling like ourselves.”

Gwen’s style is one I emulate. Drawing inspiration from celebrities involves understanding what elements are working for them, rather than just buying the same pieces and assembling carbon copies of the outfits. So here’s what I’m seeing working for Gwen that could feasibly work for someone else:

Gwen incorporates a lot of menswear but finds a way to make it either unexpected (red velvet accented by blue!) or sexy (slim cuts and a bit of skin) - which emphasizes playfulness/ boyishness rather than the stuffiness of traditional men’s cuts.
She goes for daring in only one direction. Take the taffeta pink dress, or the metallic trench, for instance. That fabric choices make such a statement because the silhouettes remain simple and understated.
Her lines in her 90s outfits are elongated. She achieves this with, yes, floor-length skirts and pants, but also monochrome outfits.
Lastly, her looks are generally unfussy. The makeup is kept unassuming and the hair is kept natural. I don’t see a ton of patterns on Gwen. This imbues the looks with a sort of ease - one that I mistake as being “achievable” (lol).

I think there is a strong sense of self evident in how Gwyneth dresses, which is why these outfits worked 30 years ago and they would work, still, today.

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