For members of the Church of Gwyneth Paltrow, the month’s devotion schedule is packed. There is the New York expansion of Goop Kitchen, the popular clean-eating outpost from Paltrow’s unlikely wellness empire, which boasts a viral Magic Mineral Broth. There is news of her next film project, Strangers, based on the “are you kidding me” memoir by low-key heiress Belle Burden, which details her husband’s sudden exit from their seemingly perfect marriage. There is the multimillion-dollar haul from her recent clothing auction, which included two Birkin bags and the reading glasses from her infamous ski trial.
As of this week, there is also a new drop from GWYN, the clothing range that debuted at New York Fashion Week last year, and now includes $795 slip dresses and a damn good ’90s-style cardigan. Paltrow stars in the line’s latest campaign, which features the Oscar winner and entrepreneur (and Glee guest star and Chalamet makeout partner and “conscious uncoupling” guru, etc.) posing in a crisp white shirt with her hand down her pants. “It’s just fun,” she insists of the cheeky pose, noting that when you’re stuck in a creative rut, the two choices are to freeze or go for it. “So go for it.”
“Go for it” is gere ad ultimum in Latin, in case you need to add the phrase to your daily list of GP liturgy. If instead you’re simply hungry for a candid chat with Gwyneth Paltrow about good clothes and Strangers gossip and getting cloned by Emma Stone, keep reading.
You have a reputation for minimalism, but this collection has a really graphic skirt that feels like a departure. What was the thinking there?
I usually have a wild card or two in my closet—I’m normally pretty minimalist, but I like to mix things up. I wanted a simple skirt that had some excitement to it, something you could wear with just an oversized sweater on top but also dress up. Actually, that’s kind of what I did with [my skirt]. A wild card challenges you in your personal styling. We also had requests from VIPs asking for more color, since we used to do more of that. So out came the skirt and the dress.
What counts as a Gwyneth Paltrow wild card?
I have a kind of crazy Alaïa denim jumpsuit. A few Sacai pieces that are super weird— one short-sleeve blouse with a lot of different patterns and fabrics. Shoes are a great wild card too. I find myself drawn to a weird shoe to spice things up, like a red elastic heel from The Row, or these new Asics x Thom Browne collab sneakers I just got. I also have a bunch of rosy Alaïa athletic pieces. You know that feeling when you’re in New York at an art opening and someone walks in wearing something totally wonky and unexpected? I love a moment like that.
Do you have any mentors in the fashion space?
This is a really good question. Do you mean, do I have stylists that I ask about clothes?
More like—do you ever call Tom Ford when you can’t quite figure something out with GWYN?
I actually tend not to do that, which is probably really dumb of me! I figure things out through a lot of trial and error. That’s honestly how I’ve built businesses over a long period of time at Goop. What’s wrong with the supply chain? How do we get the tech pack done better? How do we get the samples right? I think because of the way my brain works, I love to figure things out. I’m such a process person. I never want to be handed the finished thing or the finished rubric. I love the whole process of figuring it all out.
A few months ago, Emma Stone wore your exact Donna Karan outfit from Great Expectations.
That was great. But also, I mean, it’s so funny.
What about the teens on TikTok copying your ’90s style?
There’s this surreal nature of time folding back on itself that happens when you’ve lived through a bunch of cycles of different styles and trends. I remember in the ’90s looking at photos of Jane Birkin in the ’70s, thinking, I love that blouse; I love those jeans—trying to approximate a look from 20 or 30 years before. What’s just so weird for me now is that at the time, you don’t think of yourself as setting a trend or doing something new. You’re just thinking, This is cool; this is what’s new right now; this is how I want to express myself. And then 30 years later it’s a thing on TikTok and you’re like, “Wait, I don’t totally understand this. Don’t they know I was referencing something before me?”
What does your TikTok algorithm look like?
I actually don’t have TikTok and I’ve never had it. I know every person who has a brand should be on it, so again, this might be one of those things where it’s dumb that I’m not doing it, but it’s a bridge too far for me. What would my algorithm be? Are there home décor trends?
Have you seen the people cleaning muddy rugs? That’s a big one right now.
What’s particularly cathartic about that?
It’s considered ASMR, like sound therapy, and then it’s also this idea that things can always get turned around.
Oh, I love that. Okay, so mine would be a room getting redone, or someone getting all the gross stuff out of a room. A giant clearing out of the soul. A reset.
You reset quite a bit—acting, creating Goop, now producing, doing GWYN. What do you say when people doubt you or make fun of your projects?
I’m never not surprised by the instinctual “no” that comes from people when you want to do something different or outside the box—when you want to pivot, change careers, try something new. Everyone in your life is going to be circumspect about it first. It just seems to be the way it is, and I think often, it’s not because people want to mock you. It comes from protection and care. People don’t want you to get hurt! That’s all well and good, and every idea does need to be properly assessed so you understand the risk, the upside, and the base case before you take the leap.
But I think it’s so important that we not get stuck in life doing something dissatisfying. If you’re getting up every day and doing something that doesn’t feel rewarding in any way, I always encourage people to really look carefully at that and ask: “Is this how I want to be spending my life?” When you’re happy in what you do and you feel there’s purpose in it—no matter how big or invisible the job—there’s a happiness you can’t cobble together any other way. If you feel demoralized every day, even if change involves risk, I say look at it seriously. Are you comfortable if this were to fail? And then just do it. Whenever I’ve given people that advice, it’s never not worked out on some level. We’re alive one time. It’s okay to say “fuck it” and do what you really want.
Can you give us an update on the Strangers movie adaptation?
This is very, very early. Nothing to report quite yet. I know everyone is dying to know what’s happening, who’s in it, all of that. But work in Hollywood takes quite a minute. Everyone has to envision which way the movie goes, then it has to get written, a director has to be hired, it has to get budgeted—we haven’t done that yet, so it’s not going to be an immediate turnaround type of thing. Sorry! But everyone is asking, which means we made the right decision to option it. People are obsessed.
Is there a line from any of your movies that lives in your head rent-free?
“I guess we’re gonna have to be secretly in love with each other and leave it at that,” from The Royal Tenenbaums.
Scandalous!
What’s yours?
“It’s a mystery” from Shakespeare in Love. People keep asking, “How is this going to work out?” and Joseph Fiennes is just like, “Yeah, I don’t know—”
“I don’t know! It’s a mystery!” And then he gets back to making what he wants. Yeah, exactly. That’s actually a really good philosophy, in general. Stick with that.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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