British designer Molly Goddard on her vibrant, feminine fashion: amid quiet luxury styles, she creates huge smocked dresses, fairy-tale frocks and bright striped cardigans – and Harry Styles is a fan

Aug 17 , 2023

British fashion designer Molly Goddard likes to keep her collections feminine and vibrant. Photo: Handout

Harry Styles wore a Goddard piece when he sat for a portrait by artist David Hockney, but the designer’s day-one fans include fashion journalist Lynn Yaeger

She grew up around London’s Portobello Road and its famed street markets, but says she was more of a tomboy when young – now she has a studio in Bethnal Green where she creates bespoke pieces

You would guess that Molly Goddard – the British designer known for her huge smocked dresses in vibrant shades – enjoyed dressing up as a child. Unsurprisingly, her creations manage to inspire that nostalgic sense of fantasy in adult women; I don’t doubt that even the most tulle-averse of us would don one her signature frocks for the sake of it.

However, Goddard, who was born in the late 80s and grew up around London’s Portobello Road, famous for its street markets, describes her younger self as more of a tomboy.

Molly Goddard and her team readying a model for the spring/summer 2023 show. Photo: Arthur Williams

“I was out every night running around the garden. I had lots of friends who were boys and I guess there was no kind of idea of dressing up or down,” she tells Style in her light-filled studio in Bethnal Green, East London. “[In] photos of me as a toddler, I’m dressed in these amazing white smock dresses that my mum had found at the market, but in the park with wellies on.”

Eight years after the launch of her namesake brand, that penchant for unabashedly feminine, yet uncontrived dressing continues to play into Goddard’s work, and her autumn/winter 2023 collection especially. The show, which took place in said studio, reimagined the brand’s hallmarks and playful palettes in everyday, street-ready silhouettes: tulle dresses took on streamlined, rather than surreal, proportions; wool blazers and coats with ribbon pique detailing were layered over mini dresses with near-matching stripes, followed by oversized bomber jackets and off-kilter knitwear over gauzy skirts; bags paid homage to the studded belts of the designer’s teenage wardrobe.

British fashion designer Molly Goddard. Photo: Lee Whittaker

Embracing a low-key direction was a challenge for Goddard, who remains the only designer on her 14-person team. But it proved a welcome one. “It’s easy for me to make a massive tulle dress. I find it harder to do refined, restrained things,” she says.

The show also served as an opportunity to ground the brand in its offering amid the industry’s obsession with newness, virality and gimmicks. “I was definitely feeling a bit worn down by how full-on everything is in fashion, how fast everything is, how much money there is in it and how [companies] throw money at any situation to make some sensationalist big thing happen – it’s not about the clothes,” she adds.

Molly Goddard’s autumn/winter 2023 show. Photo: Ben Broomfield Photography