Layne Murdoch Jr.
Today Gwyneth Paltrow launched Goop Label, her own clothing line based on staples from her own closet and designed by Paltrow-approved designers.
The Goop Queen told The New York Times:
“I have kept an archive of my most influential fashion pieces, things that came to mean something to me,” she said with a smile. “It encompasses a lot of different time periods, lovers, countries.”
It’s no surprise that the apparel line, which currently consists of a grey tweed blazer with matching culottes, a chambray button-up, and a beige canvas bag, is unremarkably boring, like Paltrow, yet clearly understands the importance of exorbitant basics, like Paltrow. It’s also no surprise that for a woman who lives and blogs and thrives in an alternate reality, that a size 12 is Goop Label’s largest option. This means that it’s unaccessible to plus size women and women who can’t afford to spend $695 on a blazer.
Goop
The decision not be inclusive of women with different body shapes isn’t all on Paltrow. Plus size models are scarce on the runways in New York, Milan, London, and Paris.
Designers like Christian Siriano and Becca McCharen of Chromat, however, are creating clothing and featuring models of all sizes in their runway shows. Most recently, Siriano made actress Danielle Brooks from Orange Is The New Black the face of his collaborative line with Lane Bryant. He also answered comedian Leslie Jones’ call for a dress for her Ghostbusters premiere. And, just this weekend, Siriano cast five plus size models in his Spring 2017 show. He told Elle:
Honestly, I think the “trick” is you have to really want to do it. You’re embracing more of the world. Which is great. We’re all in the world together, you know? And the models in the show who are “plus size,” they’re not in a special place, they’re not wearing differently styled outfits. They’re just beautiful girls who are in the show, like normal. Everything’s normal. That’s how it should be!
Fashion consultant and Project Runway mentor Tim Gunn recently wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post shaming and calling out American fashion designers for their lack of effort to make clothing for all women’s body types. “I love the American fashion industry, but it has a lot of problems, and one of them is the baffling way it has turned its back on plus-size women,” said Gunn.
He noted that designers are missing out on the buying power of plus size women. “It’s a puzzling conundrum. The average American woman now wears between a size 16 and a size 18, according to new research from Washington State University. … There is money to be made here ($20.4 billion, up 17% from 2013). But many designers—dripping with disdain, lacking imagination or simply too cowardly to take a risk—still refuse to make clothes for them.”
What’s Paltrow’s excuse? When she’s encouraging women to be ambitious, maternal, and sexually liberated—is she only talking to white women in her tax bracket who aren’t plus size?