How a G. Label Collection Comes Together
G. LABEL BY GOOP THE HOSTESS DRESS, goop, $625
Gwyneth’s love of fashion is iconic and well-documented—but it wasn’t until about a decade ago, in a Barneys fitting room, that she seriously considered making her own clothes. “I had a real aha moment trying on a designer blazer,” she says. “When I realized it was $4,000, I was like, This is so offensive. When did this happen? I thought there must be a way to bring great-quality things to market at a more direct-to-consumer price point.” And thus, G. Label was born.
Designed in Los Angeles. Produced in a multigenerational family-owned factory in Italy. Influenced, every step of the way, by Gwyneth. Each G. Label collection is a true labor of love. Here’s how it happens, from beginning to end.
One year out:
MATERIALS ARE SOURCED
We believe that a truly great piece of clothing doesn’t just have to look good—it has to feel good, too. And it has to last for years. Which is why we take sourcing so seriously: A year or so in advance of any given launch, we meet with mills and vendors from across Italy to track down the best of what’s out there: Soft-as-a-cloud cashmere. Fine virgin wool that feels like a warm hug. Cotton poplin that’s crisper than the finest hotel sheets. We don’t move forward with anything that doesn’t meet our standards.
Eight months out:
CREATIVE CONCEPT TAKES FORM
Every collection starts with a seed of an idea, be it a color palette, a mood, an era, or even, in some cases, a piece from Gwyneth’s own fashion archives. “I’ve always sort of been the driver behind the styles and the quirks of our styles,” she says. “And some of the pieces were loosely based off of other vintage pieces that I had that I wanted to amend and make different—say, the body of a sweater that works perfectly, but then adding a puff sleeve to make it a bit more feminine, less grandpa.”
From there, our design director, Chelsea Paskvan, starts pulling references—from Vogue, from Pinterest, from her own files of saved runway imagery—for the shapes and silhouettes that might work for the collection. Then she’ll meet with Gwyneth and Roxanne Marie, our senior fashion director, to align on the pieces that make the most sense for both the market and the business.
Seven months out:
(LOTS OF) SKETCHING HAPPENS
Once the inspiration and the direction for the pieces have Gwyneth’s blessing, Paskvan hits her sketchbook—hard. “Sketches are a form of communication,” she says. “I like to oversketch because I want to see what people respond to. I’ll usually do about a hundred per collection.”
Six months out:
GWYNETH IDENTIFIES KEY STYLES
Those 100 styles get printed, cut out, and pinned to giant foam boards for Gwyneth to review. “She’ll let us know what concepts she likes, which ones she doesn’t, what she thinks might be missing, and where are there holes that maybe we need to fill in,” says Marie. After much discussion about which styles to slash, only about 15 remain.
Five months out:
STYLES ARE SAMPLED AND FITTED
Our senior production manager, Keely Sprague, sends those 15 styles, along with detailed measurements, to our Italian factory partners so that they can create physical prototypes. When we receive those, it’s time to fit them—that is, ensure they hang, drape, or lie exactly the way we want them to on the body. “We want to see how the garment moves, how the garment sits, how the garment looks on different heights and body types,” says Marie. (Gwyneth also likes to try each piece on herself at this stage.) Getting the measurements juuust right sometimes requires multiple fittings—but the juice is worth the squeeze.
Three months out:
FINAL FITTING
After all the adjustments from the earlier fittings have been made, Gwyneth reviews the collection on our fit model for the last time. She also often slips on the pieces again. “I really enjoy all of the points in the process, but especially when I try on the clothes,” she says. “That’s when I can see how they come together. It’s always a really thrilling moment.”
Only what she truly loves makes the cut; everything else is dropped. “Gwyneth is involved in so many G. Label editing steps—nothing that isn’t exciting or totally perfect gets through,” says Paskvan.
Two months out:
BULK PRODUCTION BEGINS
This is the moment when our factories can officially start knitting, cutting, snipping, and sewing.
Six weeks out:
CREATIVE KICKS OFF
Tasked with producing beautiful imagery of the collection, our creative team plans a photo shoot. Typically, it’s a flurry of logistics—scouting a location, booking models, securing a photographer (and a whole crew!), styling out the collection. But it always comes together in the most stunning way.
From left to right: G. LABEL BY GOOP ONE-AND-DONE SWEATER, goop, $595; G. LABEL BY GOOP CIGARETTE PANT, goop, $495; G. LABEL BY GOOP THE TAILORED JACKET, goop, $795
THE NEWEST COLLECTION
What if we made a capsule comprising Gwyneth’s all-time favorite G. Label styles from over the years? That was the question that sparked this collection. In it, you’ll find the bodysuit she has multiple backups of (“I think I have four of them in different places all over the world,” she says), the cardigan her friends have begged her to make in more colors (we’re starting with three), and the puff-sleeve dress she’ll be wearing all summer.
