MOLLY GODDARD
If Molly Goddard were a dinner party, it’s one you’d want to be invited to, because, well, it would be fantastic. The eponymously named, London-based label is already being exalted by industry somebodies, deemed crush worthy for its measurably exaggerated, tulle-shocked silhouettes. Goddard’s fabric pageantry has its place, that place being somewhere between a well-mannered soirée and all the frivolity of playing dress-up. Goddard, who studied at Central Saint Martins, launched her label in 2014 and grabbed a British Emerging Talent title at the 2016 Fashion Awards as a result of her sensibilities, which she brings to life when she shows. Look no further than her Fall collection that turned the Tate Modern’s Switch House extension into a post dinner affair with trays of martinis and all the trimmings of eat-drink-and-be-merry, “We always try to create a world, whatever that may be, a sandwich factory or a dinner party. It isn’t an after thought, when I’m designing I imagine where the person in the dress is, what they are doing, drinking or eating. I want the models and the audience to feel like they have entered a space and have been removed from everything else, immerse themselves in the world we have made, even if its just for ten minutes.” The shows are styled and cast by Molly’s sister, Alice Goddard, “We have a good idea of how things will be styled and what kind of person will be wearing it pretty early on in the make process, which I find helps create the individual character or feeling we are going for.”
Her signature designs, dresses often of dollish proportions plucked from Fragonard’s The Swing, bring fanciful to the everyday–but balance, Goddard admits, “Managing to make massive, almost unwearable show pieces and very wearable clothes all in one collection” is crucial, “be creative and also practical!”. Wisdom that hasn’t stopped her from doing what she does best, feats of proportion, “I like to see how much fabric we can get into one dress, to create the most and least volume,” saying, “If a toile ends up looking like my sketch then I normally know its going to work. If we cant get it there in a couple goes it’s normally scrapped or redesigned.” Apart from her most dramatic pieces that have earned her major buzz with stylists, she’s not only about the showstoppers, “I do like things oversized…but beyond that there a many other silhouettes in the collections and I’m excited to develop these.”
Goddard has certainly managed to garner the industry’s attention with ambitious displays of fun and flounce, cut with serious skill, and if she takes home the prize, her next investment is straightforward–“At the moment it would be staff”.
Presenting Models.com’s exclusive spotlight on each of the eight finalists for the 2017 LVMH Young Fashion Designer Prize in anticipation of their final presentation at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.
On June 16, LVMH will announce the winner of their 2017 Young Fashion Designer Prize, chosen from a pool of eight finalists: Ambush, Atlein, Cecile Bahnsen, Jahnkoy, Kozaburo, Marine Serre, Molly Goddard, and Nabil Nayal. First launched in November 2013, the LVMH Prize was created to help celebrate rising design talent and encourage their growth, with the winner receiving both a 300,000 euro grant and a year of technical and financial support from the LVMH Foundation’s experts. These eight young designers from across the globe reflect the industry’s international reach, demonstrating expansive visions in an era of ever-tightening horizons. As barriers go up across borders and the world turns inward, they offer a reassuring reminder that creativity is about confronting the foreign and finding yourself changed for the better.
The winner will be selected by a jury comprised of some of fashion’s most notable creators, from Marc Jacobs and Karl Lagerfeld to Riccardo Tisci and J.W. Anderson, overseen by LVMH’s Delphine Arnault — a group that should have no trouble picking a standout talent. Victory will be sweet of course, but if past years are anything to go by, this is one prize where being nominated is truly an honor in and of itself.
Stylist Ron Hartleben
Makeup Feride Uslu (MAM) using Uslu Airlines
Hair Shinya Nakagawa (ArtList)
Manicure Yukie Miyakawa
Art Direction Stephan Moskovic
Editors Irene Ojo-Felix, Jonathan Shia & Steven Yatsko
Text by Steven Yatsko
Models
Maeve Whalen
