THERE IS an abundance of things which may serve as inspiration for a designer’s collection. From trompe-l’œil to the execution of Joan of Arc, fashion has pretty much seen and heard it all.
For the clothing of her eponymous label however, Dublin-born Robyn Lynch finds inspiration digging through the depths of her family’s wardrobes looking towards little gems of individuality to serve as a key focus point of her next runway, creating bodies of work entirely filled with personality and emotion.
Showing her latest collection at London Fashion Week this past weekend, the University of Westminster alumnus focused her designs on gaudy souvenir t-shirts and the creation of an imaginary lads holiday “somewhere hot and somewhere cheap.”
Finding tongue-in-cheek inspiration from an old t-shirt bought by her mother in Mallorca back in 1983, Lynch experimented with bright blocks of colour, humorous prints and bicep-bearing tank tops with an array of looks which perfectly encapsulated the upcoming summer season (and more so fuelled our desire for a getaway post-covid restrictions).
You will be familiar with Lynch if you saw the ‘I caught grabs in Brighton’ graphic tee which made its round on Instagram over the weekend, a message which clearly resonated with many British stay-cationer and offered a euphoric sense of nostalgia.
Now, more than ever it seems consumers are looking for something filled with personality and expression, and this is something which Lynch certainly executes with her designs aimed to reform stagnant ideals of menswear: “I wanted this season to be injected with just as much fun as it is with fine textiles and carefully-crafted silhouettes.”
Looks from Robyn Lynch SS23
She enhances this holiday-like feeling with a two-toned bouclé outerwear piece which recalls the towelling ponchos often worn by children at the beach, while Irish linen cargos are transformed with curved seams and invisible zips.
As with her previous collections, sustainability is an important ethos, and one which led the curation of natural fibre materials and specially dyed nylon made from Seaqual yarn, a fabric woven out of ocean waste, a perfect commentary on the abundance of litter often left on the beaches of the UK from the summer rush.
by Ben Sanderson