Gwyneth Paltrow.

Byline: --KATE SULLIVAN

After deliberately avoiding red carpets and flashbulbs in recent years, Gwyneth Paltrow is back--and looking more glamorous than ever. If her intention was to make a splash, she certainly succeeded. There's a bit of a peep-show theme throughout her current wardrobe: Black-and-beige dresses--one with cutouts, the other with netting at the shoulder--invite a double take. A toga-style dress reveals just the right amount of skin, and a succession of microminis are clearly designed to display her ultratoned legs. Of course, they're also accentuated by mile-high heels, each pair more outrageous than the last. With clothes and footwear like this, prep-school girl Paltrow is aware that wild hair and makeup would be garish. She keeps her bright blonde locks loosely styled and lets her skin's natural glow shine through while wearing minimal makeup.

Breaking the Ice

On the subject of "real jewelry," Christian Dior said he preferred the finest to the biggest. He would have approved of Paltrow. While other actresses often seem so weighed down in borrowed jewels that it looks as if they've robbed the vault, Paltrow instead chooses a few sumptuous pieces. She somehow seems natural, if not understated, in vintage white-gold bracelets encrusted with diamonds, a diamond cuff, or yellow-and-white-diamond chandelier earrings.

CAPTION(S):

May 19, 2008. In a Lanvin dress, Balmain sandals, and ...