One might have expected a version of this Goth-lingerie look on Madonna circa Erotica. But not a decade later on the ever-sleek and usually wholesome Paltrow. And never, ever, ever from Alexander McQueen. His autumn 2002 ready-to-wear collection did draw heavily on Gothic-meets–Marie Antoinette flavors (Carmen Kass walked down the Paris runway in a dress somewhat similar to Paltrow’s), but this is saggy and undercooked where McQueen’s designs were always ultra-tailored and exquisitely embellished. Still, I like this outfit, because it’s the kind of screw-it gesture that Margot Tenenbaum might have made had she been invited to something as uncool as the Oscars (The Royal Tenenbaums was Paltrow’s most recent film). I also like it because it’s a small token of proof that Alexander McQueen, possibly the greatest fashion designer of all time, was also a fallible human being. There wasn’t a whole lot of evidence of that elsewhere in his work.
