Molly Goddard is an unapologetically emotional designer, her collections are always infused with a deeply personal touch. Last season that meant a collection filled with pieces inspired by children’s fashion, because Goddard was heavily pregnant while designing it. For fall winter ‘22, a collection she presented in London this afternoon, it was an homage to an enduring style influence from her childhood. “I thought she was a cross between Mariluyn Monroe and [the Clash’s] Mick Jones”, is how Goddard describes Sarah, a glamorous friend of her mother’s who would regularly pop into her childhood home in West London. Sarah was a fixture on the oh-so-chic Portobello Market fashion scene throughout the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, and had “big bleached blonde hair with a flower in it, red lipstick, a 50s dress with an army jacket and trainers.” The sensibility of that era—thrifted clothes made over with an avant-garde approach to DIY—was evident throughout FW ‘22.

Molly Goddard Fall Winter 2022
Image: Ben Broomfield; Courtesy of Molly Goddard
Molly Goddard Fall Winter 2022
Image: Ben Broomfield; Courtesy of Molly Goddard

First up there was the music, pumping soundtrack of bangers from that era (cue: a remix of Run DMC’s ‘Walk This Way’ to open). But it was the clothes themselves that captured the carefree, eclectic mood of Portobello Market on a Saturday morning—ruffled poodle skirts were styled with baggy oversized knitwear, structured dresses were based off the silhouettes of army surplus jackets, men’s overcoats were Goddard-ified with lace frill trims. The tulle dress—a long-enduring signature of Goddard’s with which her name is still inextricably linked—was on display, in soft shades of buttercup and dusky blue, and the more iconic bright pink fuschia hue. This season the silhouette was adapted using horizontal curved seams and uneven frills, and styled, by Goddard’s sister Alice, with flatform knee high boots or bowling-style sneakers. Other mainstays of the Goddard universe were on display, too: argyle-style sweaters, sweet shrunken cardigans, drop waist taffeta skirts. The goal was, by Goddard’s own definition, to create an elevated take on the “look what I just found at the market” style. Mission accomplished, and then some. 

Molly Goddard Fall Winter 2022
Image: Ben Broomfield; Courtesy of Molly Goddard

It was Goddard’s first runway show with an audience since February 2020, when she created a theatrical faux sit-down dinner for guests (there was, however, buttery chardonnay that almost perfectly colour-matched the standout dresses from that collection). Goddard’s family-first sensibility extends to her show spaces, so there was a palpable expectation that FW ‘22 would be buzzing with joyful energy, even in spite of London’s headline-making Storm Eunice. Instead, a crowd of excited fashion types and British A-listers flooded to the Seymour Leisure Centre in central London, a 1930’s modernist art deco space where Goddard staged an elevated runway. Singers Celeste and Babehaven were in attendance, alongside dancer Francesca Hayward and actors Lolly Adefope and Bukky Bakray. All told, it was a reminder of why we have fashion shows in the first place—to come together and celebrate creativity, even if there’s a storm raging outside.