Gwyneth Paltrow on The Body, The Blow Out Addiction, and Being the Face of a Hugo Boss Perfume

Photographed by Mario Testino, Vogue, May 2008

With her very public devotion to health, wellness, and regular workouts, it’s safe to say that Gwyneth Paltrow wears clothes better than most. Her enviably toned frame and innate confidence have helped her carry off a string of sartorial risks, from sky-high thigh slits and midriffs, to the navel-grazing Diane von Furstenberg jumpsuit moment that sent the blogosphere buzzing earlier this year. (“I didn’t use any boob tape with that one,” she says wryly. “Everyone’s seen them anyway”).

This spring, the multitasking actress announced her separation from husband Chris Martin on her website, Goop, introducing the phrase “conscious uncoupling” into the popular lexicon in the process. Since then, she’s launched a range of new projects that have worked quietly—and successfully—to bolster her growing credibility as a beauty and lifestyle entrepreneur. After serving as an ambassador for the skincare brand Restorsea, she treated the Goop faithful to a curated tour of her favorite things with a weeklong pop-up shop at Los Angeles’s Brentwood Country Mart in May, which included a cherry picking of products from the all-natural line, as well as a selection of products from the responsibly minded L.A.-based range, Beautycounter.

For her next act, Paltrow will star as the face of Hugo Boss’s forthcoming perfume, Boss Ma Vie, wearing the finale tuxedo spotted at the fashion house’s recent fall 2014 show—the first for its new creative director, Jason Wu. “I really love fragrance. I have tons and I like to mix,” Paltrow says,? referencing the cactuswood-, rosebud-, and cedarwood-tinged blend (out in October) that is now a part of her arsenal. According to Paltrow, she learned to appreciate scent at an early age from her mother, Blythe Danner, who wore Balenciaga’s now discontinued Quadrille exclusively. “Sometimes we find bottles on old websites and try to get them for her.”

Paltrow’s expanding beauty empire also includes her investment in celebrity hairstylist David Babaii’s Los Angeles blowout bar, which is located conveniently inside her longtime trainer Tracy Anderson’s Brentwood studio. “I use it a lot,” Paltrow confesses of the 20-minute smoothing service—which, along with regular blonding appointments with colorist Tracey Cunningham, keep her hair looking flawless. She swears by a steady supply of Viviscal hair growth supplements, too, which recently helped her bounce back from an unfortunate Brazilian keratin incident that left her with serious breakage. “It beyond works. I want to buy stock in that company,” she says emphatically. Stay tuned. Read more