Molly Goddard Brightens London Fashion Week

SS21 is the designer’s most exuberant collection to date, with explosions of color and texture.

In her studio in Bethnal Green, Molly Goddard presented her new collection during the most unusual of fashion weeks. As many adapt to life in a pandemic, Goddard breathes a welcome freshness and light with her Spring 2021 ready-to-wear designs. With the over 31 looks presented, there is a huge eruption of acid green, neon orange, and soft pink with varying prints and textures. Instead of inhibiting her creative process, the lockdown has shaped much of her designs. Amid her trademark experimentations with tulle, there emerges a flair for the utilitarian — vibrant dresses paired with fuzzy slides that are primed for a work-from-home lifestyle. 

Inspired by the dresses her mother, an art teacher, would make for her when she was a child, her obsession with smocking and tulle was born. In Goddard’s new collection, the frilly pink dresses that have given the designer her recognizable signature look are abundant. The London-based designer, 31, emerged onto the industry after she threw a small church hall show with her friends wearing her dresses. In one night, Goddard had 80 orders from prestigious boutiques. At the time she had no studio so she made all the dresses in her parents’ spare room. 

Her colorful tulle and voluminous creations have been fawned over by celebrities and Instagrammers alike. After graduating from Central Saint Martins, Goddard designed Villanelle’s frothy, bubblegum dress in Killing Eve. More recently, Beyonce wore a floor-length Goddard dress in her visual album Black is King. Model Edie Campbell, who wore a pink tulle Molly Goddard dress to 2019’s Met Gala, told Vogue that she liked how Goddard’s work “transforms the wearer into a bigger, better version of themself because they – physically and psychologically – take up space.”

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