Molly Goddard opens interactive exhibition

Emerging fashion designer Molly Goddard has created an interactive exhibition featuring her signature tulle dresses as the Now Gallery’s second fashion commission.

Titled, ‘What I Like’ the interactive exhibition features six of the designer’s long, oversized bold tulle dresses hung from the high ceilings in the gallery based in Greenwich, London.

The designer is calling on visitors to get involved with her display by hand-sewing embroideries onto the dresses. Each dress is on a pulley and can be raised or lowered to a height at which visitors can sit and embroider directly using graphic instructions displayed on the gallery walls of embroidery stitches for all abilities.

The aim of the exhibition is to encourage people to practice and develop their sewing skills and sew what they like, as well as become interested in and appreciative of the craft of embroidery.

Each dress will be already be slightly embroidered before installation and as part of the opening event in order to encourage people to feel at ease with embroidering directly onto the dresses. Around the room will be various chairs, attached to the chairs will be scissors and large plastic needles. On one of the walls will be a shelf of embroidery threads ready to be chosen and unraveled.

“I would like to invite groups of skilled sewing folk from various organisations to come and do demonstrations. Groups from local schools will be invited to take part and everyone will be encouraged to engage with handicraft,” said Molly Goddard. “I like the idea that children will return to complete an image. People may sew over or work with others’ embroideries to create intricate bold and incredibly varied embroidered dresses, so they become like a living thing changing daily.”

Now gallery curator, Jemima Burrill added: “After the success of Phoebe English’s exhibition, we realised fashion can have an impact within Now Gallery and a sense of sophisticated accessibility which we were interested to explore again.

“Molly Goddard is on the cutting edge of fashion, producing dresses which are both flamboyant and diminutive with unlikely materials. We are keen to see how her innovative style will translate into a gallery piece.”

At the end of show the dresses will be auctioned for charity.

Molly Goddard ‘What I Like’ runs until February 19, 2017, at Now Gallery in London.

Images: Now Gallery