At the beginning of the first lockdown, almost a year ago, Molly Goddard moved into a new studio, much larger than her old one, in Bethnal Green. It has allowed her to keep working safely, the larger space offering more opportunity for social distancing, and over the last 12 months Molly has shown her collections there in a nod to the Parisian salon shows. This season, the space was transformed with golden paint and carpet. Set to a soundtrack of Baroque piano glitching over dance beats, it aptly captures Molly’s approach; fun, classic, ornate and modern all at once.
Speaking before the presentation over Zoom, Molly told us how the collection grew out of working from home – the designer is currently eight months pregnant – and from the research she could do from there. She returned to some of her favourite books – Tina Barney’s Europeans, David Douglas Duncan’s Goodbye Picasso, Terence Conran’s House Book – and the folder of research she’d done for previous seasons over the years.
The result was a kind of more-is-more run through of the best of Molly Goddard; there were big, joyful dresses; the idea of luxury as comfort; optimistic colours and a sense of punky naïveté. There were clashes of layers, shapes, textures, patterns; tartan and florals and Fair Isle, taffeta bows, velvet and tweed.
“I think we need to be optimistic at the moment,” Molly said, of her approach to this season’s collection. “I love colour, texture, details… I really enjoyed doing looks this season that were about different pieces and how they were put together; about making very recognisable garments twisted slightly, or elevated, made a bit more special. Pieces of clothing that it would be a dream to find in a charity shop, or be handed down to you.
“For example some of these dresses were based on classic 70s and 80s prom dresses, but we made the bows really spiky, and the cut less about the gathering of taffeta, so it was about taking things in slightly different directions, elevating things and making them a bit more optimistic.” Which is exactly what we need right now, in the middle of this longest, darkest winter, and a strange, virtual fashion month; we’re all calling out for a bit of joy and connectivity.
