Gwyneth's Jewelry Surprise
June 10, 21
Gwyneth Paltrow launched her own range of jewelry this week. It's a disappointment.
The Hollywood A-lister has carved herself a new career as wellness and lifestyle guru/entrepreneur with a reputation for promoting bizarre products and less-than-scientific treatments.
She courted controversy with her "This Smells Like My Vagina" candle, attracted criticism over the possible dangers of bee sting therapy, and was ridiculed for promoting "healing stickers" supposedly made of the material used for NASA space suits.
It was reasonable, therefore, to expect a surprise of some sort when GP, as she likes to be known, unveiled G.Label, her debut collection of jewelry for sale on the Goop website.
There was a fair amount of hype and media interest, but nothing too startling about the understated gold link chain, diamond hoop earrings or a gold pinkie signet ring in gold with a 0.08-ct brilliant-cut white diamond.
The only surprise, and it wasn't much of a surprise, was that Ms Paltrow, 48, decided to take off most of her clothes to promote the new range.
She posed nude last year to launch her branded body butter. This time she kept her trousers on, but wore nothing else for a photo shoot with a chunky gold $2,500 Deven Link Necklace.
The designs may be less than remarkable, and not exactly budget (the cheapest of the six pieces costs $650).
But sales will doubtless benefit from consumers buying into the Paltrow story. And that's the clever bit.
She's created a business empire that's all about her, with a warm, fuzzy feel that seems nothing at all like a hard sell.
She bares her soul, and more besides. She reveals in handwritten notes to the jewelry pieces -that she and her 17-year-old daughter Apple (sweet, wholesome, biblical name - GP) get a new piercing together every year. I already feel like I'm part of her inner circle, and I've never met the woman.
Her website started life in 2008 as homespun weekly newsletter of new age lifestyle tips, urging readers to nourish their inner aspect and eliminate white foods.
The actress who starred in Sliding Doors, Iron Man and Shakespeare in Love is welcoming you into her virtual world, sharing some of her intimate, if quirky insights, and selling you beauty products, clothes, shoes, bags, books, sex toys, you name it. And jewelry.
Which brings me to the most bizarre jewelry story of the week - an item that I thought would look very much home on GP's website. It's a "structured, chic and daring" piece that clips round the wearer's lower lip, with a geometric panel that covers their chin. Not unlike a bulldog clip you might find in a stationery cupboard.
It has, say, German jewelers MYL Berlin, been "proven to be comfortable by many tests for speaking, drinking, kissing".
The unisex stainless steel $140 Mundstuck 2 requires no piercing and "nestles perfectly on your lip without applying pressure or hindering your mobility." Good to know.
Have a fabulous weekend.