Gwyneth Paltrow Is British Vogue’s November 2025 Cover Star

Can you be serious and seriously glamorous?” The question, most recently posed by Zadie Smith, has been on my mind quite a bit lately. Personally I’ve always been awed by women who defy the notion that style and smarts are somehow diametrically opposed – even if convention says otherwise. At a book signing in Brooklyn for Smith’s fourth novel, NW, back in 2012, I remember being slightly starstruck, not just because she is one of my favourite authors, but because her look – a simple black shirtdress accessorised with Miu Miu glitter pumps, a bright red hair wrap and matching red lip – projected a self-assured sense of cool. As a volume of Smith’s collected essays is published this month, Dead and Alive, the author has written an original piece for Vogue, making a delightfully compelling case that a writer’s wardrobe be anything but fusty. (To wit, I can easily picture her wearing the fantastic new-season knitwear shot by Dan Jackson and styled by Julia Sarr-Jamois on the divine Adut Akech.)

Also on my reading list this month: Kathy Burke’s terrific and much anticipated new memoir, A Mind of My Own. If you haven’t had a chance to preorder a copy just yet, then the exclusive excerpt in the issue is almost certain to whet your appetite. For Burke, who was photographed by Martin Parr for this issue, a chance encounter at age 13 with Johnny Rotten would change the course of her life. The hilarious misadventures she experienced as a punk-obsessed kid growing up on a council estate in London’s Islington will have you in stitches.

As for what I’ll be listening to? Undoubtedly Lily Allen’s forthcoming album on repeat. The 40-year-old singer has always marched to the beat of her own drum and is now making a triumphant return to music. In the seven years since her last record dropped, Allen has, among other things, written a best-selling memoir, sharpened her acting chops and co-hosted one of the internet’s most beloved podcasts. And yet the turmoil of her personal life has often made for unrelenting tabloid headlines. This month she sat down with British Vogue’s features director, Olivia Marks, to discuss her most searingly honest and emotionally raw work to date. “It will eviscerate you,” writes Marks. A truly gripping read.

Lastly, the inimitable Gwyneth Paltrow graces this month’s British Vogue cover just in time to coincide with Vogue World being held in Los Angeles on 26 October (this year’s theme? A global celebration of fashion and film). British Vogue’s executive editor, Giles Hattersley, travelled to Amagansett in the Hamptons to interview Paltrow at her exquisite East Coast home to get the scoop on her major cinema comeback, playing opposite Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme, giving a performance as sexy and cerebral as it is memorable. Hollywood royalty, indeed. Though, as ever with Paltrow, her fascinating conversation sparkles with humour, whether she’s addressing the ever-churning rumour mill about her life, revealing the wellness rituals that keep her grounded or saying what she really thinks about the unauthorised biography that was published about her this year.

What struck me most is Paltrow’s ability to stay the course, to follow her instincts in the face of the endless memes and online chatter that follow her every move, even after 30 years in public life. For the naysayers who dismissed her as just a pretty face way back when, her multimillion-dollar empire, Goop, is certainly a sweet rebuttal. As is her return to the big screen, trailing awards buzz in her wake. A serious and seriously glamorous woman for sure – and one whose reassuring humanity may just surprise you.

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