Smile
All Images courtesy of Ben Broomfield
“As we returned slowly to the studio, after months of working as a team over zoom, I realised how dark and depressing the last few months had been.”
As Molly Goddard came out of lockdown from months of working with her design team over zoom, her initial thoughts reflected the atmosphere under a pandemic, the one that left us all questioning where we go from here, and how fashion practices need a rethink. The first idea was to pare the collection back, keeping colours neutral and simplified. Then her mindset changed, a realisation that what we all really needed was an antidote to the depressing months we had faced and gradually colour, inch by inch, became a part of the collection.
Molly was born and raised in London, where every street brings style inspiration that goes in by osmosis. The designer has a signature that is playful and accomplished, through her exploratory use of fabrics like tulle, organdy and silk with transparency, contrasts, construction and volume, the key focuses.
SS21 took inspiration from near and far, from the extremes of the Villa Menafoglio art collection in Italy featuring messy textures alongside sleek sculptures. And from Camden's street style that is always eye-opening. The collection popped in pink tulle and checkerboard neons alongside orange florals accented with bright blue, orange and red bags. Aside from the white tulle pieces, it was a riot of colour and texture tempered with an oh so comfy collab with Ugg, the perfect fit for that 'wfh' look.
“In the end the collection became an explosion of colour, prints and joy!”
The final result might have been far from those original drawings over zoom. Still, this collection gave us something that we all needed; it made us smile and remember what makes British fashion so unique, that playful, creative and enduring spirit that continues to push boundaries and bring joy, antidote indeed!!
See more of Molly Goddard’s work and shop her collection here.
