Patrick Michael Hughes Senior Fashion Editor
Photographed by Ben Broomfield
Molly Goddard's press release for Autumn/Winter 2020 was a photograph by Shoichi Aoki,1992 it was published in Fruits, a Japanese cult magazine capturing street photography in the bohemian area of Portobello Road in London . The father, daughter image highlights a denim on denim look fashioned with a brown newsboy hat. He is pushing a red stroller loaded with a blue denim bag and a red coat with one hand and the other is holding the little girl's hand. She is dressed in an boy's style BMX sweater, a blue tiered skirt with pants and red shoes. An ideal street photograph color composition. It was later revealed that the little girl in the photo was Molly Goddard, a fond memory of growing up in Notting Hill and wanting to get dressed up to go to the market and interact in the neighborhood.
The image was a ideal choice to show that the designer's style is personal and has always been. The three to four year old in the picture now a fashion designing adult has been consistently been creating collections within a romantic genre well known for volume and tiered silhouettes paired, with striking variations of fabrication. The focus for Autumn/ Winter 2020 were chunky knit sweaters. The playfulness of the sportswear article evokes a familiar smile toward a 'permanently borrowed object' via big brother or a boyfriend was a wonderful way of grounding Goddard's most noteworthy rustling, ethereal and at times diaphanous fabric weights.
However, the collection was not all floating or fluttering romance the grounded take away items were the knits and the sharply tailored plaid looks for men and for women. The knits varied form the zip front jacket like pieces to Fair lsle Shetland wool pull overs and cardigans in a range of colors. Green, cobalt blue, orange, gray and coral were paired with with a variety of silhouettes in this strongly dress driven collection. A coral Fair Isle pull over was a stand out it featured denim floral appliqué adding movement and whimsical to the classic geometry of the cozy familiar motif.
Long sleeve floral pattern dresses were shown singularly under long well tailored sweeping coats with high waist details. A note is that this too is where the designer played with the fluid looks geared toward a Generation Z expectation for inclusive fashion for all expressions of identity. Further, some of the printed dresses were also overlays to other pattern items such as red and white gingham skirts. The gingham motif in the collection had a surprisingly fresh adjacency of camouflage. Fitted dress silhouettes in the printed portion of the collection seemed to make a nod to nineties bohemian sensibility via the west coast of the US.
The sweeping ending the collection is what Goddard fans wait for this was a stunning collection with wonderful accessories bow hats and a variety of bags. The styling of opaque hosiery with very British 'brothel creepers' and wingtips from Underground England were just the perfect touch for a collection imprinted with personal memory and a young designer coming of age into a strengthening design vocabulary and artistry .
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