Molly Goddard has carved out a singular niche in contemporary fashion with her exuberant, tulle-filled creations and subversive sense of romance. A Central Saint Martins alumna who cut her teeth with stints at Giles Deacon and John Galliano’s studios, Goddard burst onto the scene with an off-schedule London show in 2014 that she hosted in a hired church hall with friends modeling her designs. That charming DIY presentation immediately led to orders from influential retailers like Dover Street Market, kicking off her eponymous label’s rapid rise. Industry acclaim quickly followed. Goddard won the British Emerging Talent prize at the 2016 Fashion Awards and the Harper’s Bazaar Breakthrough Designer award in 2017, then scooped the prestigious BFC/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2018.
Goddard’s design signature is instantly recognizable and utterly her own. She is best known for her fantastical dresses: multilayered gowns and smocks made of sheer tulle, taffeta, organdy, and silk in bold pastels and crayon-bright hues. Despite their whimsical flair, her creations are underpinned by serious craftsmanship: hand-worked techniques like smocking, shirring, crochet and tatting are essential to her process, reflecting her love of vintage construction and meticulous detail. In 2018 she partnered with famed photographer Tim Walker on a surreal photo-book called Patty, which reimagined archive pieces from her collections into sculptural new forms, a project artfully styled by her sister and launched at Dover Street Market.
In 2024 and 2025, a decade into her career, Molly Goddard remains one of fashion’s most original voices – and she continues to evolve on her own terms. For Spring/Summer 2024, Goddard staged her runway show amid the stately rooms of Christie’s auction house in London, presenting a collection that turned garments literally inside-out to spotlight seams, smocking, and the hidden construction inspired by vintage underpinnings. By Fall/Winter 2024, newly inspired by motherhood, she doubled down on bold form and color: Goddard sent out “undiluted” visions of bulbous layered tulle and taffeta, sculpted into abstract silhouettes she quipped were “so ugly they are beautiful,” all in a palette of eye-popping reds, oranges, and pinks. Most recently, Goddard has shaken up the traditional fashion timetable by forgoing a large runway show and instead unveiling a small Resort 2025 collection of ten monumental tulle dresses – a back-to-basics passion project marking the ten-year milestone since her first presentation.