NOW Gallery’s second fashion commission will be by the bright star of the London fashion scene Molly Goddard.

Goddard will create an interactive exhibition with oversized tulle dresses hung from the ceiling of NOW Gallery. Each dress is on a pulley and can be raised or lowered to a height at which visitors can sit and embroider directly onto the dresses. On the gallery wall posters with graphic instructions of embroidery stitches for all abilities, will be available to follow and interpret. Sew what you like.

Each dress will be already 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.

We hope to encourage people to become interested in and appreciative of the craft of embroidery, whether an office worker taking a moment of meditation after work, a parent teaching their children after school or a someone with a few minutes spare before a gig at the O2.

Are you interested in becoming a part of Molly Goddard’s art installation at NOW Gallery? Do you have any sewing skills? Can you share them?

If you answered yes to all of these questions then we would love to hear from you!

We’re looking for volunteers to lend a hand during our Molly Goddard exhibition to inform and guide beginners. By the end of the exhibition you would have had a crucial role in the progression of the embroidery, something that some may even want to add to their CV. Please tell Hester at [email protected] why you want to get involved!

“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 engaged with handicraft. 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.” Molly Goddard

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

“After the success of Phoebe English’s exhibition, we realized 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.  From our work with Something & Son we are aware that including visitors in the making of the exhibition, seeing the work evolve over time, is a new and exciting objective for us which enables all to take part.” Jemima Burrill, NOW Gallery curator.