Because of Love Story, there’s been a revival of interest in all things Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, especially her style. It’s worth noting that back in the 1990s, basically everyone clocked the fact that Gwyneth Paltrow was one of CBK’s imitators. Gwyneth adopted CBK’s “clean-girl aesthetic” with the long, straight blonde hair, severe center part and tight chignons. Gwyneth also tried to copy CBK’s general style for years, although she didn’t keep up with Carolyn’s fashion. But yeah, Gwyneth really loved Carolyn’s hair and Gwyneth has been chasing that hairstyle for thirty years.
I bring all of this up because Gwyneth was in Rome on Thursday for the big Valentino show. I’m sure Valentino styled her in this dress and those tights, but the hair is all Gwyneth. I’m sure some will argue that hey, lots of women stick with the hairstyle they’ve loved for years. That’s true and I’m not judging all of y’all. I’m judging Gwyneth for sticking with the flat-ironed, CBK wannabe look for thirty damn years. What’s crazy is that whenever she experiments with an off-center part and messy, natural hair, she looks so much better and younger. As for the Valentino ensemble… it’s terrible all the way around. The dress looks like a thrift-store find from the ‘70s. The tights are okay but not with the dress. The shoes are HORRIBLE.
Gwyneth also recently spoke about her history at the Met Gala, and she looked down her nose at anyone who tries to bring any sense of whimsy to the gala dress codes/themes. She said, “I’m me — so I’m never going to the Met Ball in like, a hot dog costume or whatever, you know? I always have to be myself, first and foremost. Like, I’m not going in a costume; I’m going in a dress. “There’s two camps who go to the Met Ball — the costume or the evening dress. And I’m always going to be an evening dress person.” Katy Perry is getting slammed by everybody these days, huh?
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- Celebrity arrivals for the Valentino fashion show at Palazzo Barberin Featuring: Gwyneth Paltrow, Giancarlo Giammetti Where: Rome, Italy When: 12 Mar 2026 Credit: Marco Provvisionato/IPA/INSTARimages **UK, USA AND AUSTRALIA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Celebrity arrivals for the Valentino fashion show at Palazzo Barberin Featuring: Gwyneth Paltrow Where: Rome, Italy When: 12 Mar 2026 Credit: Marco Provvisionato/IPA/INSTARimages **UK, USA AND AUSTRALIA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Celebrity arrivals for the Valentino fashion show at Palazzo Barberin Featuring: Gwyneth Paltrow Where: Rome, Italy When: 12 Mar 2026 Credit: Marco Provvisionato/IPA/INSTARimages **UK, USA AND AUSTRALIA RIGHTS ONLY**
What’s going on with her face work? She looks frozen.
I thought the same thing. She doesn’t look like herself.
What in the Mira Sorvino … ??
Just last week, (at the SAG awards), Gwyn was looking lovely and exactly like Blythe Danner. This is a huge change.
WTH?!?!?! She looks Botoxed to the nth!
She also decided she wants eyebrows now. Going from almost none to a strong brow really alters how she looks, too. It doesn’t look bad to me but it looks VERY different – having almost no brows and very little eye makeup was her signature. Also – hate that dress, tights and shoes – Apple *might* get away with this look being young but Gwyneth looks delusional.
She & Kylie traded eyebrows 😂
I concur. It would be fine on a young person. I’m sure is was very expensive but the creases make it look cheap.
The shoes are the wrong decade for the dress.
I do like the color.
I was wondering the same thing. Is it her makeup? It looks harsh especially the eyebrows. Her face also looks much thinner. Why isn’t she smiling with her mouth?
Her face looks very skinny….?
Of course it’s horrible, but acid green is going to be that accent color we’re not gonna buy in stores soon. Gwyn wants us to know she’s game, she the 1st courageous one who dared
There’s room for both right? Gowns and costumes since it’s at a museum. It’s a time to play. Let people wear their hot dog or hamburger or whatever. Anyways, i can’t even think about the hair bc I dislike that outfit so much. They did her wrong with that.
Yea, I always liked the outfits that were totally on theme but not overly costumey.
All I can think of is she looks like she’s been living at Grey Gardens with the raccoons. She just needs a head scarf to polish it off.
My God. That’s terrible. And Valentino put her in that? Good grief.
Did absolutely no one have a steamer?
OMG, right? It looks like she wore that on the airplane.
I don’t think the dress is bad but the lacy tights and mismatched shoes don’t look great with it.
💯 styled differently, and ironed, I think I’d really like the dress!
LOL! She looks like she got dressed in the dark!
Yikes, it’s thrift store from top to bottom, even the handbag.
Actually shoot me, but she did wear tons of green in Great Expectations, so it gives me some nostalgia, and I get to think of Ethan Hawke, who I still swoon for as a 90s teens…….
I think she can pull the look off because she’s tall and pretty. I like how her face looks. And the hair is an improvement. It looks thicker than usual. I wish I could look as in shape as she does.
She raided princess Ann’s wardrobe!
I don’t think Princess Anne would wear that…. not even those particular tights.
Ohhhh I think she did something to her eyes/brows, a lift of some kind. She looks oddly different.
That outfit is doing her no favors, it’s awful top to bottom.
Yes, it looks like she had a lift and used to fuller brows to detract from it.
And the hair change.
She went to the same surgeon as all the other look-alikes: J Law, Lindsay Lohan….
I actually love the color, but the shape of the dress and the styling are not great. And her face – ouch. Hurts to look at it, it is so tight.
I like her outfit but she’s not relaxed or whimsical enough to pull it off, and it needs another layer on top (big belt, vest, jacket) to dial down the pillowcase of it all. She does have a new face though, I didn’t recognize her
I agree with this. I like the outfit. It would look great on someone who actually has fun with fashion.
Agreed — either add a layer to dial it down a smidge or choose one piece (dress, tights or shoes) of this ensemble to wear. G just isn’t pulling off this look and maybe she knows it? It would cute on Apple.
Agree – the whole outfit would have look better on someone else. She didn’t pull it off.
The color combo is terrible. The white tights, what is she? A toddler?
Valentino’s spring/summer ’94 collection had those white tights. I remember the print ad campaigns back in the day & from the Paris runway in Christy Turlington’s doc “Catwalk” [ETA: Sharon Stone was the bride in the finale, wearing a short white dress, flowing veil & patterned tights].
It seems like there was an attempt at going vintage/retro here, but the entire effect doesn’t truly work, unless the goal is to get noticed.
I don’t care how popular this color gets, I’m not wearing it. I actually think the outfit is fun and would look cute on someone younger and hipper? But she looks like a deranged doll.
Absolutely dreadful color on her, dreadful pattern combination, dreadful makeup, and what is going on with her hair? She needs a fresh new style, but this is not it…
I rewatched A Perfect Murder recently and Gwyneth had the cutest short hairstyle. It really showed off her beautiful bone structure and long neck. I agree that she’s had (too much) work done. She’s looking unlike herself with odd tilted eyes and too tight face. Maybe I sound ageist but the outfit is too young for her. A lot of times when an older person dresses too young it actually makes them look older. She should stick to an elegant look.
Loved her shorter hair in A Perfect Murder. You are correct her neck is perfection (you don’t know how much this pains me to say about Gwyneth) with short hair. If she wanted to look younger shorter hair would do it for her not whatever she has had done to her face.
Well the good news is that I don’t notice the hair, because the rest of the get-up is such a hideous attention grabber. She looks like she’s doing the walk of shame home the morning after a raging theme party.
The terrible bridesmaid shoes, OMG those tights, and the long blouse cosplaying a dress. That color is for people with more melanin. Period. And the length – Gwyneth has great legs, but there are a myriad of better ways to show them off. Think longer dress with a thigh high slit. Grown women in these micro-minis just look like little girls playing dress up.
I like that lipstick color on her though.
Well, the acid green looks good on her, and I like the colors in general. I just can’t help to remind myself of the bad taste parties we used to have in the 90ies.
50 going on 15 imo.
Mutton dressed as lamb, methinks.
The tights and shoes are terrible, but I think the dress could be saved if it ditched the sleeves and presented as a shift.
I saw the header pic in a thumbnail and thought, “hmm, for Gwyneth, that’s not so bad.” Then the bigger picture, and it was, “Oh, hell, no.” Unpatterned tights would have been a huge improvement.
I actually suspect that this is something that looks much better in person — I think the flash is washing everything (her included) out.
I do not like Paltrow, but I admit the hair and face (especially the eyebrows) look good here. Yes, she’s botoxed up, but many celebrities are. Everything below the neck is atrocious.
It’s giving “tween on her way to a birthday party in 1989”, all that’s missing is the side ponytail lol. I actually don’t think that the dress itself is bad, but I think it would’ve worked a lot better with black tights and simple black pumps.
Hairstyles like these always remind me of Afghan hounds. It looks ridiculous to me on human beings.
When someone takes a big swing fashion wise, I always think it’s cool. If that’s not for you, fine, but wouldn’t it be fun if more of us just wore what we wanted? Maybe more people would if they weren’t worried other people would be assholes about it. That’s the culture I’d like to be a part of anyway!
Her face is weird looking. What has she done? That is a horrible dress, it reminds me of an old I Love Lucy when she made her own dress and it was awful. And those tights just need to be destroyed. Shoes are a great color, but not with that ensemble. Just my 2 cents.
A new face to go along with her new dress? Well, bless her heart. But that could be her Madame Toussauds statue bc I didn’t see her move at all. Is her staff just carting it around?
Nothing about this look is flattering, including the hair.
Woof! I hate it. And her makeup is cray cray.
i hate everything about this EXCEPT the colors. but im a brunnette. and i love me some green.
Gross. And what’s with the Morticia Adams look?