Since bursting onto the London fashion scene a few years ago, Molly Goddard has become a force to be reckoned with. Loved by the likes of Rihanna, Edie Campbell, and Cindy Sherman, the British designer’s creations have graced the pages of countless editorials (Dazed’s included). More recently, last month she won the coveted British Fashion Council/Vogue Fashion Fund, with a year’s mentorship and £200,000 to expand her empire now at her disposal.
Before she begins work on that, though, comes the release of her first book, Patty. As is always the case with Goddard, whose shows feature a line-up of family and friends in full party-spirit, the designer chose to spotlight those closest to her. Shot by legendary photographer Tim Walker and styled by her sister Alice, amongst the pages you’ll find her grandmother ‘Granny Anne’, friend and supporter Erin O’Connor, and Patty, the sisters’ guinea pig (no prizes for guessing where the book’s name came from).
The book documents the cast wearing a succession of the designer’s frou-frou confections, all the way from her 2012 BA collection, up to her recent AW18 offering, and as is usually the case when it comes to both her garments and Tim Walker’s whimsical photographs, there’s joy on every page of the fuchsia-bound publication.
Of her favourite photograph in Patty, Goddard claims it’s that of Granny Anne that she loves the most, though. “She looks so beautiful and calm,” she explains. “She told me about the only time she had her picture taken professionally, when her and her sister were the ‘before’ and ‘after’ for some beauty treatment. My granny was the ‘before’, which I couldn’t believe!”
Elsewhere, sister Alice cites one featuring iconic model Erin O’Connor as the most impactive and fun. “We were watching Erin move under the layers that we piled onto her,” she says. “It became like a very elegant game of Buckaroo.”
Released yesterday and selling out online almost immediately, Patty is currently available in-store at Dover Street Market – but be quick. It’s a very limited edition run, with only 250 copies available.