Our 32 All-Time Favourite Carrie Bradshaw Looks From Sex And The City
Although the benefit of hindsight has allowed us to recognise Carrie Bradshaw 's myriad flaws, and has allowed us to question the show's glorification of wealthy, white, middle-class, stick-thin women — the fashion statements remain eternal. (And, for the record, Samantha Jones, we adore you and always will.)
Bradshaw's style and wardrobe were exceptional, and often so timeless that we'd absolutely wear many of her outfits today. This, of course, is thanks to the show's main costume designer and stylist, Patricia Field. Sourcing an eclectic yet cohesive wardrobe for Bradshaw, with the ideal mix of designer and secondhand, Field showed us just the importance of a personal sense of style, instead of blindly following the traditional rules of fashion.
Ahead, we've collated a list of our 32 all-time favourite Carrie Bradshaw looks (which was not an easy feat given all the years the show aired). Let's treat ourselves to a bit of nostalgia, and maybe even outfit inspiration.
Starting off strong, the pink tank and white tutu (which Patricia Field actually found in a clearance bin) was the intro outfit that never, ever got old.
The LBD (or technically charcoal grey; we've never been totally sure) to rule them all. All I've ever wanted in my wardrobe is a tank dress that looks as chic as this.
This floral Dolce & Gabbana maxi dress didn't make it to the runway that episode, but was firmly solidified in all of our hearts.
The Vivienne Westwood pinstripe suit was tailored to perfection for Carrie's visit to Vogue. Ms Bradshaw would never don a traditional suit. But Westwood's punk edge allows Carrie to bring her own flair to the office. All that's missing? Those Manolo Blahnik Mary Janes.
Affectionately known as Carrie's Revenge Dress, this white bias cut slip by Dior is one of her most timeless and iconic looks.
The pink snakeskin boots were on a whole other level of bold fashion, and they worked a treat with her infamous coat (though of course, we don't condone fur).
It may have been a heartbreaking moment in SATC history when Carrie wore this look, but the red cowboy hat, snakeskin boob tube and red striped skirt were incredible.
A slightly controversial pick perhaps, but I really love this slightly frazzled look, with the woollen knit romper and trench coat. It's giving Miu Miu in the late 90s meets Bridget Jones.
The John Galliano for Christian Dior newspaper dress, which Carrie wore again in the And Just Like That reboot, has become one of the rarest and most coveted garments in the fashion world. And there's no debate about why.
Carrie's wedding guest dress and ballet flats make for one of the most gorgeous and ethereal formal looks I've ever seen (though clouded by the designer Donna Karan's fall from grace for her comments about the #MeToo movement). And Miranda, I see you too in that chic sheer-sleeved black midi.
The Richard Tyler summer dress to end all summer dresses! I only wish it got more screen time before Carrie and the dress got drenched.
This low-cut tasselled sequin number is just so special and gorgeous — it belongs in a museum.
This formal grey slip dress is the epitome of sexy 90s formal wear, and I will never get over it.
One might not think a simple navy dress like this screams 'Carrie Bradshaw'. But one must always look at the details... For instance, Carrie loves dressing to a theme. So, of course she's going to wear a blue dress with a representative spin on a naval collar to a boat party. Paired with statement gold accessories and a graphic print bag? That's our Carrie.
Carrie may have been checking out at the venue for her first book launch, but I was looking at her outfit, which is fun yet elegant with the contrasting stripes and florals that only she could pull off.
So simple yet so unbelievably cool, Carrie's pink sequin skirt paired with a simple white shoestring tank is everything.
Carrie went through a little "bum bag on the hip" era for a while there, and I was so for it. Especially this Gucci bum bag paired with a top-to-bottom '50s-by-way-of-'80s Prada fit.
Just when you thought I'd forgotten the naked dress! I could never. It's still one of my personal life missions to find a dress like this.
Of course, Carrie brought elegance to her outfit even at an S/M restaurant opening. There's no rest for the stylish.
This simple yet sexy snake print dress is exactly how Carrie approached club nights, in the early days. While a lot of her looks are busy and full-on, there were those moments when she knew simplicity was best.
During those special L.A. episodes, Carrie wore this sparkly sheer caftan over her bikini and it was a real poolside showstopper.
Perfecting a simplicity yet again on her reunion double date with Aidan, Carrie went for this pared-back casual look where her accessories — the famous Gucci bum bag and a gorgeous diamond necklace — really brought the outfit together to make something special and chic.
The Roberto Cavalli top that she almost threw away — and thank god she didn't! It may have looked odd when she pulled it out of the depths of her wardrobe during a clearout, but when she put it on and paired it with a simple white dress, it really proved its value.
I may not have been a fan of Aleksandr Petrovsky, but I am grateful that he gifted Carrie this incredible pink Oscar de la Renta dress right out of the pages of Vogue, just so we could witness it.
This SS96 Jean-Paul Gaultier dress may not have belonged at the stiff Upper East Side party she wore it to, but it was obviously the best look of the whole night.
Carrie was nailing kitsch florals and big belts before the rest of us, championing the way forward for this perfect summery weekend look.
Let's take a moment to honour this truly iconic look...and that bustled Vivienne Westwood skirt. It's giving sexy rabbit tail, and, somehow, it works.
Carrie getting caught in the rain in this bold, rainbow look was a New York fashion moment to remember.
Back with another great tulle moment, this is a classic Carrie nighttime look. Classy with a bit of eccentricity thrown in.
Quirky, bold and colourful — just like Carrie.
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Refinery29
40 minutes ago
- Refinery29
Watching Becky G Embrace Her Gray Hair Helped Me Change How I See Mine
When Becky G recently went on TikTok and revealed weeks' worth of grown out grays down the front and middle parts of her hair, I realized something: I couldn't think of ever seeing another Latina celebrity around my age admit she has gray hairs. As the 28-year-old Mexican-American singer sarcastically talked about her 'old age' and being a 'viejita,' at least in the eyes of TikTok's generally younger user base, she tilted her bouncy hair downward and ran her fingers through silvery strands. 'No, I do not care that my canas are showing,' Becky says in the video. 'It's natural. I call them my sparkles and so I need my sparkle gang to pull up, because I know I'm not the only one that doesn't just feel bonita but is 'stressita' too.' As a graying brunette, this helped me feel seen. I found my first silver strand in middle school and have been begrudgingly dying my grays since college. I found solace while scrolling through the thousands of comments on Becky G's video as countless other people commented 'sparkle gang,' shared their graying stories, and even replied with photos of themselves letting their grays grow out as well. ' "No, I do not care that my canas are showing. It's natural. I call them my sparkles, and so I need my sparkle gang to pull up." becky g ' 'Found my first gray at 14 years old,' Becky G wrote in her caption. 'Could be that I am the eldest daughter of a Mexican-American household, started working at 9, the fight-or-flight response, which involves the release of norepinephrine, can contribute to hair graying, simply genetics, or ALL OF THE ABOVE. No pues como que no voy a tener canas guys, like be for real.' It's 2025 and still rare to see Latina celebrities open up publicly about having gray hair, let alone a Gen Z star like Becky G. In a Vogue 'Beauty Secrets' interview, actress Salma Hayek also recently shared that at 58 years old, she doesn't dye her hair. But when she does want to tame her 'rebellious' grays, she swipes on some Benefit's Roller Lash mascara. Latina creators like Heren Mercedes, behind Silver Curls, and Kat Lovelis are also making content to help other women embrace their grays at any age. Yet we know the burden on women to maintain youthful appearances isn't limited to Hollywood or the online world. The stigma held toward Latina with gray hair permeates across age, income, and the many cultures that comprise Latine identity. Latine beauty standards generally mirror, if not amplify, Western societal ideals, which discourage women from displaying any visible signs of aging. It's not surprising women feel pressure to conform, given studies have found that women with gray hair are more likely to be perceived as less trustworthy and are likelier to experience ageism. These factors indicate that there's a social cost of not following beauty norms, explains Katie M. Duarte, a postdoctoral fellow in Latinx Studies at Smith College and researcher on the natural hair movement among Dominican women. ' "Latine beauty standards generally mirror, if not amplify, Western societal ideals, which discourage women from displaying any visible signs of aging." zameena mejia ' 'Because gray hair is associated with being 'old' and, therefore, supposedly incompetent or undesirable, women with gray hairs are socially encouraged to dye their silver strands for a youthful appearance to combat these stereotypes. This is true regardless of race or ethnicity, as many women deal with the beauty standard and social pressures of appearing young,' Duarte shares. 'Women who forgo dying their gray hairs report that others consider them less competent in the workplace, more physically fragile, and less attractive. For some women, the decision of dying their gray strands comes from personal choice and preferences, while for others it is about avoiding these social stigmas of 'letting go' of their beauty and feeling socially invisible and, therefore, socially irrelevant.' Duarte also calls attention to the role the media plays in reinforcing these standards. While beauty standards vary across Latine communities, generally, the ideal beautiful hair look for Latinas is understood as dark or blonde, long, straight or wavy (but not kinky), and it should be obviously styled, looking feminine and distinct from men's hair. Think: Eva Longoria, Jennifer Lopez, Karol G, Shakira, and Selena Gomez. While dominant beauty standards will continue to privilege straight over kinky textures and presumably youthful, dark or blonde hair over gray hair, Duarte notes that the growth of the natural hair movement — in which some Latinas, especially Afro-Latinas, are accepting their naturally kinky, curly, or wavy hair — and moments of vulnerability from celebrities and influencers can help other Latinas accept their graying hair. ' "Because gray hair is associated with being 'old' and, therefore, supposedly incompetent or undesirable, women with gray hairs are socially encouraged to dye their silver strands for a youthful appearance to combat these stereotypes." Katie M. Duarte ' 'For Latinas that have embraced their natural hair, many have also wanted to stay away from chemically altering hair treatments, like hair dye,' Duarte says. 'I believe there will be more Latinas accepting their naturally graying hair as those in the natural hair movement age into gray and silver strands.' In Becky G's TikTok, she added that viewers might notice her grays in videos because covering her grays was expensive, time consuming, and because, ultimately, they are natural. When she asked others to chime in if they also have gray hair, one commenter, Annette Greenham, left a photo of herself — smiling while rocking long, styled gray hair — and wrote that she started getting gray hairs as a kid. 'I started growing gray hair in elementary school. I felt embarrassed that I had them at a very young age,' Greenham tells Refinery29 Somos. While growing up in a multigenerational Mexican household, she saw her family members covering and dying their gray hair every few weeks, but no one ever explicitly talked about it. As an adult, she started dying her hair almost every two weeks as she felt the pressure to maintain her look for holidays and get-togethers. But in 2022, she saw people grow out their hair due to the Covid-19 lockdown conditions and she decided to let hers grow out as well. 'I feel so much better now that I let my gray hair grow out. My mom has now even started to let hers grow out, too,' Greenham says. 'I am happy with the decision of growing out my grays and I get a lot of compliments.' We spoke with five additional Latina women who shared their journey toward accepting their own gray hair, how they have overcome cultural norms, and how this decision has impacted their relationships with loved ones and themselves. Jacqueline Cordero, 34, California I was around 12 years old when I became aware of my grays. Middle school was really stressful, but my mom reassured me it was my Puerto Rican father's genetics. There weren't many, but they definitely stood out against my long dark hair. Students and even teachers pointed them out. As I grew older, they showed up more. While I was in high school, I was no stranger to a straightening iron and quickly learned my grays were unruly. I could never really control them. Then in my 20s, as I began a career and real adult life, I had a mix of my hereditary grays and my stress-induced grays. Society told me grays were a sign of stress and age and something worth hiding. My mother would always encourage me, saying they were gifts of wisdom. Still, she was influenced by U.S. beauty standards. Her face card has always been incredible, but societal pressures prevailed when it came to covering her grays. She allowed me to color my hair for fun, and even though covering her grays was a must, she never put that expectation on me for my grays. As I'm navigating my new identity in motherhood and my 30s, I've thought about covering them up in an attempt to look more youthful. I'm grateful for my Trinidadian and Puerto Rican genes for prolonging wrinkles and other signs of aging, but the grays have become their own entity within my hair. My grays symbolize my heritage, my family. They represent all the growth I've made in my life. They are a reminder that I'm right where I need to be and showing up how I need to. Anyuli Ramos Lopez, 33, Texas The first time I noticed I had gray hair was around senior year of college. I was 22. At first, I was embarrassed and in denial that I was graying early. I would pluck them out, dye my hair, or just style my hair differently to cover it up. Straight out of college, I started teaching in rural Texas and our salary was not one to be envied. I was paying rent, bills, and bought a new car. I would go to a salon to get my roots dyed every six-to-nine weeks because of how fast my hair grew out and the price each time was $90. I tried to box dye my hair to help with the cost, but that was damaging my hair. Around the summer of 2019, I decided to embrace it and grow out my grays. I went to a salon and dyed a part of my hair that grew out platinum blonde so that it could 'blend,' and when Covid-19 hit, I just let it grow out. Even to this day, my 83-year-old grandmother still dyes her hair to hide her grays. My grandfather on my paternal side had a head full of grays, so when mine started growing out, my father would call them brillos. He was proud that I had inherited this from his side of the family. I lost my father back in 2020 to the pandemic, and I feel as though my hair is a part of him that I can carry with me every day. I've come to truly love my grays. It symbolizes my individuality and how much I have grown in my own self-confidence. I'm not going to lie, I do smile and feel 'cool' when I get compliments from strangers. I love that I have used less chemicals on my hair, so my natural curls and waves have been able to come back. Kat Lovelis, 30, North Carolina I noticed my first gray strands at 15 years old. I immediately yanked them out because I didn't want to feel old. Growing up, I didn't really hear much about gray hair because my mom would always dye her hair. The ladies in my family would encourage me to cover mine up. I guess they didn't want to look old, and that pressure passed on to me, too. That sent an unspoken message that gray wasn't something to be shown. I grew up watching my dad have full gray hair, but he would cover it up, too. My mom always dyed her hair. No one really embraced it. I started going gray at 29 after I decided I no longer wanted to keep covering them up. At first, I didn't like them, but as they grew longer, I started to love the salt and pepper look. Now, my family loves my gray hair and it has inspired my mom and sister to let their gray hair grow out. To me, my gray hair symbolizes loving all of me, even the parts that used to make me feel insecure. It's a daily reminder to accept myself fully and not feel like I have to hide or change to be beautiful. I love that celebrities like Becky G and Salma Hayek are embracing their grays and encouraging others to do the same. Embracing my gray hair has helped me gain so much confidence. I used to feel embarrassed and try to hide them but now, I show them off proudly. They're part of who I am. Samantha Carranza, 32, Texas When I got my first couple of gray hairs at 28, I felt so confused. At 30, I noticed more grays coming in. I started to feel insecure when I realized I couldn't pull my hair back without the grays being noticeable. As a little girl, I noticed my grandmother always dying her hair to cover up her grays. I never heard her complaining about it, but my grandmother never exposed her grays in public. My mother now does the same. Looking back, I think witnessing my abuelita and my mami dye their grays had influenced me to want to do the same. I recently got my hair professionally done and instead of covering my grays up completely, like I have in the past, I decided to blend in my grays with a new hairstyle. I had every intention to get my hair done and cover up my grays, but Becky G's TikTok post really inspired me and made me feel less alone. I want to break the cycle by embracing my grays. It symbolizes strength and resilience. It reminds me of being a mother and of going through difficult seasons but still pushing through. I want to be able to inspire other women to love themselves completely. I have vivid memories as a little girl of when my great grandmother would visit from Mexico and I would brush her hair or run my fingers through her beautiful thick white hair. I want one day for my granddaughter to run her fingers through my hair. Dulce Maria Rodriguez, 32, Texas The first time I noticed I had gray hair I was around 17 years old. I would pluck them out of embarrassment. Around the age of 20, it started to get more noticeable and no one in my family embraced it. Funnily enough, even my dad covered his gray hair. I started dying my hair black or dark red with box dye at home because it's all I could afford. My parents didn't understand why I dyed it, even though they did the same thing. Growing up in a Latine household, I was told gray hair was caused by stress. But I never understood why I was getting gray hair so young if I wasn't feeling stressed. Looking back, I realize all of the pressure I was under as a kid and understand I had grown used to underlying stress for things such as always needing to translate for my parents and getting scolded for not understanding everything. Hearing, 'Entonces para qué vas a la escuela!' At 21, I took a more subtle approach to my gray hair. Instead of dying it one color, I incorporated highlights to blend with my grays. At first it was a style that was 'in,' but as time went on I started embracing it. Now, I feel like I have broken a cycle. Embracing my gray hair has been a journey. I am now 32 and I don't feel like I need to be embarrassed about my hair. I am lucky to be able to enhance it with the help from my hairstylist, but I feel empowered now. I wish younger me was as open about her struggles with gray hair as I am now, but I feel like it's just the way we as women are. My advice to younger generations is to be open about your feelings about getting gray hair. It's valid to feel insecure and the emotions have to be felt, but it's hair. Speak to your family members and believe them when they say it isn't a big deal because we are all headed to gray hair at some point, but a few of us get our sparkle sooner.
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Vogue
an hour ago
- Vogue
We Are Looking For Our Next Dogue Cover Star
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Forbes
5 hours ago
- Forbes
Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop ‘Can Be A Tough Place To Work,' But Its Vision Is Clear, A New Biography Claims: ‘It's All About Gwyneth'
Gwyneth Paltrow attends the 2023 CFDA Awards at American Museum of Natural History on November 6, ... More 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic) Love her or hate her—when it comes to Gwyneth Paltrow, it's difficult to look away. This has led to the popularity of Paltrow's lifestyle brand, Goop, since its creation in 2008 as a newsletter written from her kitchen table—and that public fascination has now led to the writing of journalist Amy Odell's new book Gwyneth: The Biography, out July 29. Odell tells me over Zoom that she spent three years interviewing more than 220 people who knew Paltrow at different stages of her life—ranging from friends to those who worked with her on movie sets to those who worked with her at Goop—'and I wanted to pull back the curtain on how she became so famous and so polarizing,' she says. 'She's someone people are magnetically attracted to, but she's also been super controversial, and that's what I think the book does, is really tell that story and also explain how she impacted various industries—entertainment, obviously, but also fashion, beauty and, perhaps most significantly, wellness.' All of Paltrow's life experiences—from being a 1990s 'It Girl' and winning the Academy Award for Best Actress at just 26 years old to being raised as the privileged daughter of Bruce Paltrow and Blythe Danner (as Odell reminds me, 'I mean, Steven Spielberg is her godfather') and so much in between—led to the creation of Goop 17 years ago and its trajectory ever since. While Odell's book covers so much more than Goop—from her high-profile relationships to her childhood to her acting career—it also leans heavily into Paltrow as an entrepreneur. 'She seems really ambitious,' Odell tells me. 'She obviously juggles a lot of things capably.' She's authentic, she adds, and 'was never shy about just being who she is. This is all she knows. So I think that really works in her favor.' Gwyneth Paltrow attends Veuve Clicquot Celebrates 250th Anniversary with Solaire Exhibition on ... More October 25, 2022 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/WireImage) It's nearly impossible to separate Paltrow the businesswoman from Paltrow the woman, and Gwyneth paints a holistic portrait of the 52-year-old's life. Of Goop, Odell says, 'Gwyneth made it very appealing through her taste—her really good taste—and she made it a world that people wanted to be a part of.' 'The problem is, she wanted to do everything, and she wanted to do it all perfectly' At the office, Paltrow is known mostly as 'GP'; she often rolls up to the Goop offices—wearing, of course, Goop's G. Label clothing line—and parks her white Range Rover in a spot labeled 'Reserved for G-Spot.' As a boss, 'Some people find it to be quite challenging,' Odell says of Paltrow. 'But I think the good thing about working for her is that her vision is very clear. She has this extraordinary taste—a really sophisticated aesthetic and aspirational aesthetic that she brought to the wellness industry. I think that's, in part, what made Goop and Goop's wellness content so appealing. It was this gorgeous, aspirational aesthetic she brought to it.' Dr. Ella Bell and Gwyneth Paltrow, CEO and Founder of Goop, speak onstage during day three of The ... More MAKERS Conference 2024 at The Beverly Hilton on February 29, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo byfor The 2024 MAKERS Conference) Right down to the company's name, Paltrow is in the midst of it—Goop was chosen as a moniker because of Paltrow's initials, GP, and the perceived fact that companies with double Os—think Google or Yahoo!—did well. According to Odell's book, Paltrow initially thought the name was 'stupid and funny,' and she has also said in the past that Goop was 'an old nickname' (her father, Bruce, apparently used to call her 'Goopie'). True to Paltrow's authentic nature, two Miramax executives told Odell that they remembered Paltrow using a Goop@ email address back in the 1990s. She is who she is. As a boss—Paltrow has served as CEO of Goop since 2016, eight years after founding it—she has 'very strong ideas and a very clear vision,' Odell says. 'The problem is, she wanted to do everything, and she wanted to do it all perfectly.' Paltrow, known as a perfectionist, has also seen Goop spread itself rather thin—from beauty to fashion to wellness to food to newsletters to podcasts to Netflix shows, there are few verticals that the company hasn't touched. 'So people felt overworked, and there wasn't a lot of money for everything they were doing—some people felt like they didn't have enough budget for freelancers and things like that,' Odell says. 'So there's a lot of work to be done, and there's this perfectionism that she wants to achieve. So people felt pressure from that.' Gwyneth Paltrow, Powerhouse Brand of the Year Award recipient, attends The Daily Front Row's Seventh ... More Annual Fashion Los Angeles Awards at The Beverly Hills Hotel on April 23, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo byfor Daily Front Row) If you walk into Paltrow's office, she wants you to get directly to the point, Odell says, and 'then you could just go.' When Paltrow shines her light on someone, 'it feels amazing and people really thrive, but there's a fear that it's going to be taken away,' Odell tells me. If it does get taken away, in comes the stress, and 'that stress could just permeate the office environment.' Some, Odell says, called Paltrow 'icy and cold and aloof,' drawing comparisons to Vogue's departing editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, whom Odell also profiled in a 2022 biography. 'I think it can be a tough place to work,' Odell says. 'That said—[it's] not for everybody. Some people found it to be really tough. Some people ignored the chaos and were fine, and people said they liked that the vision was very clear, which was that it's Gwyneth. It's all about Gwyneth.' 'She's like the original influencer' Much like when Paltrow shines her light on an employee and they feel her warmth, so it is when Paltrow promotes Goop's products—that's when they do the best. 'They do sell,' Odell says. 'People want to buy what she's wearing. She looks great in the clothes, and she looks great wearing the mascara. So she's very powerful in that way. But what if she gets tired of it? People tell me she doesn't love doing the social media content—not that I can blame her. She's got a lot on her plate.' Gwyneth Paltrow, CEO and founder of lifestyle juggernaut Goop, makes her first appearance in the ... More Tank as a guest Shark on 'Shark Tank.' (Christopher Willard/ABC via Getty Images) Goop came about when Paltrow was living in London with her ex-husband Chris Martin and their two young kids: Apple, born in 2004, and Moses, born in 2006. After becoming a mother, Paltrow dialed back her work as an actress, which seems to be revving up again after both kids have now gone away to college. That leaves questions about the future of Goop—after all, what is Goop without Paltrow? 'I'm not saying Gwyneth is not there for the company, but if she changes her mind—so the investors I spoke to, they did not see a super bright future for Goop, I have to say,' Odell says. Before Goop, Paltrow threw her star power behind brands like American Express and Estée Lauder before she realized, 'Hey, why am I using my image to promote these other brands when I can use it to build my own brand?' Odell says of Paltrow's possible thought patterns during that time period. 'Which is incredibly savvy. And I think, in that way, she's like the original influencer, because she realized that she could use her image to drive purchases, and she did really early affiliate deals before anyone was calling them affiliate deals, and now affiliate deals are this huge industry.' 'I think she's been so strategic,' Odell tells me. Gwyneth Paltrow celebrates the launch of at Goop on October 18, 2023 in Santa ... More Monica, California. (Photo byfor Since its newsletter origins, it has focused on the aforementioned beauty (Goop Beauty and Good Clean Goop), fashion (G. Label), wellness (Goop Wellness) and food (Goop Kitchen) verticals; it has had a Netflix series, a podcast, dipped its toe into home furnishings and courted controversy for its perceived pseudoscience and boundary-pushing products, like a viral candle advertised as smelling like Paltrow's orgasm. Many people told Odell that Goop has spread itself too thin, 'that they did too much,' she says. 'They raised a lot of money, too. One expert I talked to said they probably never should have raised that much money.' Odell's many interviews led her to believe that 'they can keep going probably for a very long time, just as they are today,' she says. 'I think it's probably really up to Gwyneth—do I want to keep doing this? Do I want to have a little bit more flexibility and maybe license more of this business? I think it's really up to her.' In September 2024, Goop let go 18 percent of its staff—affecting about 40 people—followed by a second round of layoffs last November. The goal of the reduction is to 'optimize operational efficiency and revenue growth in our key verticals of beauty and fashion,' a Goop spokesperson told Business Insider. The spokesperson declined to provide specific revenue figures, but said revenue grew year-over-year in 2023 and was on track to grow again in 2024. While the spokesperson declined to say if Goop—a privately-held company—is profitable, Business Insider did report in November that Goop Beauty revenue was up 21 percent over the year prior, and the fashion brand G. Label was up 45 percent. The outlet reported that Goop has raised more than $140 million and was most recently valued at $433 million (per PitchBook); last fall, Paltrow told WWD that, after the first round of layoffs, Goop was 'back in growth mode.' 'What I'm most excited about is the refining of the brand that we're doing—our hyperfocus on beauty, fashion and food,' Paltrow told Fortune in March. 'Those are the verticals where we're seeing incredible product-market fit and margin. Food, beauty and G. Label all grew exponentially last year. Since COVID, we've had to stay so agile, and getting to the other side of that and focusing on our strengths—there's power in that.' Founder and CEO of Goop Gwyneth Paltrow speaks onstage during 'The Rise of Goop: Building a ... More Tastemaking Empire' at Vanity Fair's 6th Annual New Establishment Summit at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on October 22, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo byfor Vanity Fair) Paltrow called layoffs 'painful' and told the publication that 'it's always a very difficult thing to do, but sometimes for the rigor of the business, it's necessary.' 'I hate doing that more than anything in the world,' she continued, adding that Goop was 'very, very close' to being profitable, 'which is incredibly exciting, and a big milestone.' Not bad for a newsletter sharing recipes and recommendations with no monetization strategy in place in the company's early days. Back then, Odell writes, 'the whole spectacle of Goop was just plain entertaining, like a very curated look into her life.' Speaking of a look into her life—and into Paltrow's influence—after she announced in 2014 that she and Martin were separating after 10 years of marriage, famously calling it a 'conscious uncoupling,' 'received so much traffic, the site crashed,' Odell writes. As the company monetized and got into e-commerce, 'I didn't understand anything,' Paltrow said, as quoted in Gwyneth. 'I didn't finish college. I didn't go to business school. I didn't go up through a corporate environment.' 'They just grew too big' Going forward, as Paltrow said herself, Goop's strategy is to niche down on beauty, fashion and food: 'The best thing to do is just embrace your niche, and scale can come from that,' Paltrow said at the 2024 Forbes Power Women's Summit. 'A lot of mistakes have come from me not understanding that.' 'We have a lot of intention around what we're doing, and I'm proud that we're still alive and kicking,' she added. Gwyneth Paltrow attends the 'Encore! Embracing the new entertainment era' session during the Cannes ... More Lions International Festival Of Creativity 2024 day two at Amazon Port Plaza Stage on June 18, 2024 in Cannes, France. (Photo by) If Goop could go back in time, it should have done this from the start, Odell tells me. 'People I talked to said she might've been better off just trying to prove one vertical first—just do beauty and kill it in beauty, and then maybe you iterate from there,' she says, citing Kim Kardashian's Skims and its commitment to shapewear as an example. While Skims was founded by Kardashian, it's not all about Kardashian, 'and that makes you stronger, I think, as a celebrity brand,' Odell says. With Goop, 'I think what happened there—this is my informed view on it—is that they built out all those different businesses, the clothing, the beauty, the events, all of that,' Odell says. 'And they just grew too big. It was just too expensive to do all of that, a lot to build out a staff, to do a beauty line, to do a clothing line, a staff to do content. So they cut back because they needed to. The expenses were just too high.' As Odell writes in Gwyneth, 'Not only was the pace and breadth of work unsustainable for employees, it would also prove unsustainable for Goop.' '[But] they're still there and the company's still going,' Odell tells me. 'And Gwyneth is still the CEO.' These days, Odell was told the Goop Kitchen is the company's biggest moneymaker—hence food making the cut alongside beauty and fashion as the path forward. When asked about a possible exit someday, Paltrow told Fortune, 'I'm in building mode and not thinking about an exit right now. I don't even really want to think about it for another three years, or even start thinking about it.' Gwyneth Paltrow and Michaela Boehm speak onstage during the goop lab Special Screening in Los ... More Angeles, California on January 21, 2020. (Photo by) It remains uncertain what will come of Goop, but what Odell knows? 'Whatever happens with Goop, Gwyneth will be fine,' she writes in the book. 'She has a way of emerging victorious from any calamity.' Goop's success, in large part, boils down to Paltrow and the public's inability to take its eyes off her, a woman who Odell writes possesses 'an enduring level of status and fascination few ever achieve.' 'Goop was a window into a certain elitism,' she continues in the book. 'And people couldn't look away.' To a degree, they still can't.
