Mollie-may Boyd on the irrelevance of the outcome

It is not the first time Boyd judged her strengths differently. Initially, for her foundation year at CSM, she named architecture her primary choice. It was the neutral outsider to show her that she was more suited for her alternative, which was fashion. “Looking back, it makes so much sense,” laughs Boyd, seeing just now what the scholars saw back then. As soon as she understood that fashion doesn’t rule out influences from photo-space or product design, Boyd applied her structured creative process to her designs, relinquishing from theoretical concepts and instead focusing on construction mechanisms. “At university, you might apply a concept without knowing the underlying reason. I wanted my designs to be self-explanatory in the most obvious way,” clarifies the designer. As such, she created every garment to reflect an individual step of her designing process so accurately that the collection pieces could be named after the respective creative stage. “Operating like this helped me understand how I was working and whether it was organic or forced. It helped me see my approach through a different lens.”

For her final collection, Boyd started with product design, referencing the e-commerce and retail supplier Alibaba and its oversaturated offer of products that can solve almost anything. In particular, she picked products the wellness industry promotes following the purpose of helping women to become a better self. Within this framework, Boyd used a jade roller to paint marks on handmade tights or created a waistband for multiple jade roller pens. For a pair of drop-crotch skirt trousers, she applied a dressing aid to hold up the skirt and keep it from sliding down. Every design poses the question whether the beauty commodities have become necessities and whether women would be able to feel good without them.

“Sometimes, the research is more interesting than the outcome.”

When the final presentation was moved to the digital space due to COVID-19 and the students’ work of four years was limited to five images, the class faced the same challenge every brand suddenly struggled with: how to transport a physical experience to the screen without losing the value of the collection and intrinsic message? At this very moment, Boyd’s approach proved beneficial. The graduate’s focus on showing less the final outcome but the underlying structure created an extraordinary expressiveness. She managed to shoot photos that were more than impressive images. In fact, when the young designer curated the photos reflecting a graphical amalgamation of solely two looks, it was due to her behind-the-scenes approach that every single depiction still overflew with the collection’s message. “It is more about dissecting when you create for a digital platform,” Boyd believes. “Sometimes, the research is more interesting than the outcome.”

“It would have benefitted us all if on the first day we were to think about the mood, the target market, or the person who would wear the designs,”

However, with the virtual fashion show, the usual spectacle, the heightened experience, and the buzz of the moment vanished. “It obviously was an intense BA and a weird shock,” recalls Boyd. As a result, the tutors pushed the students to focus on their marketing approach and create a compelling format for the audience. Organically, the students were to focus on the surrounding world of a garment rather than the collection piece itself from an early stage on. “It would have benefitted us all if on the first day we were to think about the mood, the target market, or the person who would wear the designs,” reflects Boyd on the common course cycle. “But ultimately, it had to start with the big bang of the show to get the people’s excitement to then read into your work a lot more.”

Luckily, Mollie May Boyd comes from a generation of internet-savvy youth. She remembers that by the time she started her foundation year, Instagram had already become a platform for social influencers and engagements with brands. Consequently, students shared a more detailed understanding of the power and possibilities social media offers in comparison to the previous years. “People walked into the foundation year with already twenty-thousand followers,” says Boyd. “Instagram was a way of working and engaging and getting your work out there.” Breaking with the former educational experiences, the current generation grew into progressive and self-sufficient students who created media-relevant public persona even before graduation.

“You are not a lone racer. You do this with everyone by your side, and there will always be someone to lend a hand and help you on your journey!”

Despite the stirring situation with life coming to a stillstand when the program didn’t, Boyd looks back on the past months with positive sentiment. After the virtual fashion show and official ending of the course, she and her fellow BA graduates continued working, creating photoshoots, lookbooks and websites based on their collections. “I think everybody seems hopeful and optimistic,” the young designer states. Still, she wishes her future to hold more opportunities for her to delve deeper into different sections, like set or graphic design. Having said that, she would want to intensify one skill set to found her own brand or even consult other young brands herself.

After the turbulent time Boyd has had throughout her BA, she has learned one great truth: “You are not a lone racer. You do this with everyone by your side, and there will always be someone to lend a hand and help you on your journey!”

Art Direction and Film by Mollie-may Boyd, Photography by Pablo Rousson, Graphics by Tilda Rawls, Model Maqui Bagheera, Music Credit- ‘You Make No Sense’ by ESG