The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
LONDON, United Kingdom — Sometimes the most subtle developments can be the most effective. Molly Goddard has learnt that. At her debut catwalk show last season, Goddard pushed a raver theme that didn't quite live up to the charming set-designed presentations she made her name with. This time round, she went back to her roots and, with the help from her crafty mother, staged a show amidst a banquet of Coca-Cola, fresh fruit and kitsch furnishings.
"It's the end of a dinner party at your friend's parents house and you don't know whether you are too dressed up or too dressed down," she explained. Her visual cues came from the assortment of people usually present, such as babies (hence bumblebee striped knitwear) and old people (embellished cardigans and brown-and-orange tablecloth florals) and, of course, the girls like Molly Goddard in their frothy smocked tulle dresses.
The dresses in question are Goddard's forte and this time came strewn with velvet ribbon, and with puffed mancheron sleeves that created a dramatic sense of proportion. One scarlet cotton dress bucked the familiarity of Goddard's trapeze shapes with a streamlined square neckline famed by double-puffed sleeves and a streamlined waist that flared into a full skirt. Anther highlight included a magnificent fully tiered neon blue tulle gown, which the model confirmed was relatively light to wear. "I could just go bigger and bigger," said Goddard. "That dress was meant to be half the size," she said. It was meant to be three metres wide rather than 150 and everyone thought there was a mistake except me."
What prevents Goddard's saccharine frou-frou from becoming an archaic vision of girly femininity is the way she counters it with simple clothes, bringing each piece of tulle back to reality. Ruched Lycra trousers, as well as simple cargo styles, printed T-shirts, cross-body bags and satin ballet flats were layered underneath just as Goddard herself wears it. Even the sequinned tights were entirely believable. Plus, as the models sat and drank wine, picking at cheese around a table after the circling the catwalk, it reinforced the message that these floaty designs are very much grounded in the here and now.
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