Molly Goddard has been getting experimental with her staging. Last season, audience members had to crane their necks upward to look at models who strode down an elevated runway. This season the models repeatedly criss-crossed the gymnasium floor at the Seymour Leisure Centre — seemingly at random — while loud music boomed through the room.
There were a lot of looks on show, and some were fresh and fun, but the crazy staging and the music were so distracting it was hard to piece together what Goddard wanted to say for spring.
Her best silhouettes were the simplest ones, especially the long and sheer ruffle-edged dresses in highlighter green, pink or orange.
The designer layered them over colorful striped underwear, and occasionally added a contrasting cardigan to the mix. Goddard is best known for her voluminous designs, so these long and fluid dresses felt fresh, but in keeping with the designer’s extreme-and-bright aesthetic.
The long strapless dresses, with bits of fabric tucked and folded here and there, hit the mark, too. They had an air of languid, 18th-century glamour, especially when Goddard teamed them with multicolored cowboy boots. T-shirt dresses with rough edges and long frilly skirts managed to be beachy, and chic, at the same time.
Those looks risked getting lost in the great big shuffle of the runway show, where there was too much going on, and too many different looks screaming for attention. Molly, please keep it simple next time.
