“Open your eyes,” Gwyneth Paltrow tells me. I am sitting in my kitchen listening to her new AI-powered meditation app, Moments of Space, which encourages users to keep their eyes open while meditating.

“Observe all the objects in your surroundings,” she instructs. I see a pile of washing up from last night. I shift my focus in the direction of the fridge, and notice an overdue council tax bill reminder pinned to the door. Perhaps looking out of the window will prove less distracting. I spot my next-door neighbour’s sweet kitten … using my garden as a litter box. Maybe “eyes-open meditation” is a little easier in a sprawling Montecito “sanctuary” than my east London flat.

Although the Moments app has been around since 2021, last week its founders, Kim Little and Julian Murphy, unveiled Paltrow as a new co-owner and global community director. “As a trailblazer in the wellness space, Gwyneth has built an empire by challenging convention and bringing new ideas to the mainstream,” the company said in a press release.

Open-eye mediation isn’t new. Some Buddhists practise an ancient form called zazen. But while the Goop founder is known for her often weird and sometimes potentially dangerous suggestions – see vagina candles and yoni eggs – there are plenty of science-backed studies showing that meditation can reduce everything from anxiety to gut issues.

Unlike closed-eye meditation, open-eye meditation encourages the practitioner to maintain a gentle gaze while meditating to help achieve deeper mindfulness. In his book Eyes Wide Open, the author Will Johnson says it helps “to literally see things as they are, not just how we perceive them to be”. But even if the practice has centuries of history behind it, the idea of Paltrow neatly rebranding it feels a little grim. It also fuels the idea that wellness is something that can be bought.

Paltrow isn’t the first celebrity to delve into mindfulness. When Calm released a 30-minute sleep story narrated by Harry Styles in 2020, demand caused the meditation app to crash. Dream With Me remains one of the most listened-to stories to date. In February, the Grammy award-winning rapper Lil Jon released a 10-track Total Meditation album. The 53-year-old artist best known for high-energy tracks such as Turn Down for What explained in an intro track: “I’m all for partying and having a good time but I’m also for relaxation, restoration and finding peace within.”

Back to Moments – it is free to use for one week, after which it costs up to £29.99 a year. The sound and aesthetic – all gentle white tones and soft, grey fonts – feels very Goop-y. Paltrow narrates a couple of the shorter meditations, including Awareness of Sound, in which she speaks extremely slowly, pausing, between, each, word, for, effect. The wider menu, offering everything from a 19-minute TYSM gratitude practice to something called Mindful Cleaning, is just as painful. “How would it feel to clean with less haste and more space. More grace even, perhaps?” asks someone with a voice like a bot.

At a preview of the app, Paltrow told journalists she is constantly meditating. From loading the dishwasher to walking down a hallway, Paltrow says she finds “all day, every day, I can just steal a few minutes here and there”.

“So are you actually meditating now?” asked the celebrity photographer Greg Williams as he filmed Paltrow getting her makeup professionally done for a promotional shoot. “I was until you started talking to me,” she replied. “I just catch moments all day long. It’s just really fantastic.”

That’s the thing with Paltrow and her wealthy ilk. Just when us normies think we’ve finally caught up with them by downing a morning ginger shot, they move the wellness goalposts even further away. I’m sure meditating with your eyes open is a little easier with a personal team spanning housekeepers, drivers and chefs. For many of us, just trying to keep our eyes open on the commute is challenging enough. In fact, sometimes it’s really nice to just get some shut-eye.

What’s hot – and what’s most definitely not – this week

Going up

Cartifacts | Map motifs are popping up on everything from lamps to rugs.

Skin-tight Lycra | Compression-inspired leggings stomped their way down the spring catwalks and now the trend is trickling out of the gym and onto the street. See Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid going for dinner.

Cast iron | Dolly Parton has teamed up with the Tennessee-based Lodge Cast Iron on a cookware collection. A mini-skillet shaped like an acoustic guitar, anyone?

Going down

Chicken shops | Travis Kelce and his Kansas City Chiefs team-mate Patrick Mahomes are opening a steakhouse in, you guessed it … Kansas City. Entitled 1587 Prime, a combination of their shirt numbers – we wonder if Taylor was part of that branding hive mind.

Full sleeves | According to tattoo experts, tiny flowers and fern leaves that look as if they’ve been dried and pressed are becoming the tat du jour.

Hypebeasts | Palace has teamed up with Gap on a clothing collaboration that includes kidswear. Expect hypebabies in hoodies and baggy jeans on a swing set near you soon.

Chloe Mac Donnell, deputy fashion and lifestyle editor, solves your wardrobe dilemmas

Q:. I don’t know why I’m yearning after a pair of slingback flats with a buckle strap – I live a muddy rural life with animals – but maybe the impracticality of such shoes is the point. My budget is up to £100 and I want something that isn’t plastic. Lucy Ashton Geering

A: Unfortunately, plastic-free shoes are hard to find for under £100. Ganni’s much-adored buckled, leather ballet flats retail for £265, but I did find a secondhand pair on eBay for £53. Lucky for you if you’re a UK 5. If not, try setting alerts on your favourite pre-loved sites.

M&S has a pair of pointy flats in black and pink that look much more spenny than their £45 price tag. While most of the upper part of the shoe is made from leather, some of it does contain “other materials”, most likely plastic. If you can add an extra £10 to your upper budget, take a look at Vagabond’s Hermine shoes. The upper, lining and inner sole are made from leather although the outsole is made from plastic.

Got your own style question? Send it to fashionstatement@theguardian.com.