Shown in her studio, Molly Goddard’s AW23 collection is all about reshifting her focus in fashion. The space is clean, stripped down – the optimal setting for a collection focused on the joy of dressing. Models exit from the atelier space and walk the runway of the showroom in eye-catching, playful designs, conjuring memories of playing dress up in your mom’s closet or flipping through pages of fashion magazines as a teen. Somehow, she is able to recapture those joyful moments.

While wearability is at the forefront of the collection, Goddard’s pieces remain exciting and lively, inspired by her own ideas of how she’d choose to style pieces coveted in fashion magazines. Teaming up with her stylist Alice Goddard, the two reminisced on their favorite closet staples in their childhood and teen years for inspiration (printed jeans, sporty knitwear, and Claire’s accessories being the most memorable) to create this collection full of not-so-subtle references to a time when fashion was – more than anything else – fun.

The result is flowing tulle skirts and dresses paired with fitted sweaters, animal prints, graphics, patterned outerwear and blue leopard denim. Bright pink mixed with geomoatric patterns mixed with studs mixed with button downs. And these are just a few of the highlights. Think the coolest school uniform you’d actually have wanted to wear – but now exists.

“We looked through the MG archive – pulling out pieces that had worked, and pieces that hadn’t – restyling, reshaping, changing the fabric, refining,” shared Molly on the creation process. “The result is a collection that feels nostalgic, familiar, grown up, wearable, streamlined.”

But for Goddard, even beyond playing with the idea of nostalgia, this collection symbolizes a return to the simplicity of how her career started – as a student overcome by passion and dreams to work in fashion. It is through this return that the show seems to reach out and hug each viewer, embracing their child within who would be proud to know that they still love to play dress up, admire clothing and flip through those magazine pages.