British designer Molly Goodwood was awarded the Goodwood Talent in Fashion Award by the British Fashion Council on Thursday. The award celebrates the exceptional work of upcoming British designers. It was presented to her by the 11th Duke of Richmond, Charles Gordon-Lennox.
After graduating from the public art school, Central Saint Martins in London, Molly reportedly launched her independent fashion label, Molly Goodard. The brand featured voluminous tulle creations that combined a sense of frivolity and joie de vivre with high fashion, as reported by media sources. She has designed clothes for celebrities like Jodie Comer, Rihanna, and Cindy Sherman.
According to media reports, she presented a ‘trio of fresh designs’ at the opening ceremony of the Qatar Goodwood Festival, in Chichester, United Kingdom – media sources also added that she followed in the footsteps of the previous year’s winner of the Goodwood Talent in Fashion Award, designer Richard Quinn.
Each piece that was showcased at the festival was reportedly inspired by the rich artworks and interiors of Goodwood House, the Duke of Richmond’s country home in West Sussex.
Media sources further reported that some of the pieces showcased at the festival were crafted based on inspiration from historic relics that were from decades ago. A crimson shirred-taffeta gown adorned with pink velvet bows took its inspiration from both the 18th-century clothing worn by the first Duke of Richmond and the extravagance of the house’s ballroom; a bright daffodil-hued dress with hand-smocking correlated to the Yellow Drawing Room, and a stiff pink frock with a fitted bodice and a flamboyantly frilled skirt was inspired by a 1758 portrait of the third Duke of Richmond.
Molly was selected for the prize by a panel of judges including Caroline Rush and Sian Westerman, both of whom are members of the British Fashion Council, Bazaar’s editor-in-chief Lydia Slater and the Duke of Richmond, who noted that Goddard’s style “fits perfectly with Goodwood’s approach to fashion (sic)”
According to media reports, the aim of the award is to support visionary talent while simultaneously building a collection of unique pieces that will form part of a wider legacy of modern fashion.