Gwyneth Paltrow’s Memed Emmy Walk Actually Illuminates Fashion History

Gwyneth Paltrow, actress and GOOP-er, became an instant meme at the 2019 Emmys, when video of her daintily shuffling across the stage went viral. Paltrow, who was there to present the award for outstanding lead actress in a drama series to Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer, delicately small-stepped slowly across an enormous stage as Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” blared in the background. It’s a really fabulous meme.

But in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Paltrow’s stylist Elizabeth Saltzman explained why she walked in such a, uh, unique way. Paltrow was clad in a stunning vintage Valentino gown with tulle sleeves that dripped to the floor, a piece Saltzman found in the house’s archives. The gown is from 1963, and dress structure at the time didn’t exactly allow for a ton of freedom of movement. “In 1963 there were no back slits!” Saltzman told THR. “It was not that she was having this fabulous walk, which she already has. In order to keep the dress authentic, I didn’t want to change Mr. Valentino’s design.”

Paltrow wore the dress to honor Valentino Garavani, a close friend. “It was a fun way to put our nod towards wearing your clothes more than once, to honor a very dear friend, and to look like a billion dollar babe!” said Saltzman.

Paltrow attended the ceremony with her husband, superstar television Brad Falchuk (Ryan Murphy’s creative partner). He recently convinced the star to act again in new series The Politician, in which she plays a character that seems like a parody of herself. “[Falchuk] had to convince me a little bit,” Paltrow recently told The Today Show’s Savannah Guthrie. “I’ve got a pretty big day job over at goop.com, so I sorta put acting on the back burner.”

“But he was writing and he was like, ‘I think I’m writing a part for you.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t think I can do a part.’ And lo and behold, here I am.”