Molly Goddard said that before this show at Christie’s auction house in King Street, the other venues she visited were when setting up displays. She explains: “It’s behind the scenes, when these masterpieces are just lying on the floor: it’s quite amazing to see and very exciting… which I think relates to the collection in some way.”
Goddard created quite a few masterpieces of his own in a series that aimed to bring to the surface the workings of garments and turn them inside out to create a patina of production. She said she had done her research at the National Theater Costume Hire, examining the stitched clockwork of garments ranging in style from Regency to contemporary.
Long skirts were gathered at the hips to create a drape down to the edged foam of a pale, ruffled petticoat. This contrasting device was especially exciting when used to border the single slit of a black tailored jacket. The signature tulle skirts were paired with loose tops with corsets whose sheerness exposed the geography of boning and corsets that defined their soft geography. A dusty pink wool cardigan was trimmed with a two-inch strip of satin, like an old grandmother’s blanket left in a guest bedroom closet. Washed red rose prints used on more skirts and knitted into another cardigan – magenta panels on the shoulder – added to the sense of comfortable, homely nostalgia. Off-white quilted dresses featured a diamond pattern with quilted bars, and the seams of checked denim pieces were traced in unfinished selvedge.
A meticulous excavation of the very well-known yet overlooked, this was a quietly masterful collection. Goddard said: “What I enjoy most is when I really delve into making clothes; the techniques and the fabrics and the fit.” That enjoyment of Goddard’s process was evident in the results.
