ROBYN LYNCH X COLUMBIA
Pre-lockdown Robyn Lynch experienced twice (well, three times actually, if we count her MA collection) what it’s like to reveal months of work to fellow fashion industry insiders and get a pulse on how they like it — in real life, not through likes and comments. This fashion week, though, marked the first time she held a runway collection on her own, independently of the Fashion East family. And so, after a few seasons forming her retro-nineties-and-noughties-Irish-cool-meets-football-terrace-wear aesthetic with the support of the London fashion incubator, and another couple seasons widening her scope by repurposing deadstock from performance-oriented companies Rapha and Columbia, AW22 was a career-defining magnum opus for Robyn. It was her time to shine, too. “It was just such a nice feeling to come back to the catwalk after so long. I really forgot how much work goes in to creating a show that lasts like five minutes, but it’s so rewarding. The cheering, nothing compares to that,” Robyn told us.
This season, Robyn’s already established partnership with Columbia prolonged itself into an exercise in making the most of the outerwear brand’s technology-driven nature. “The partnership remained the same in essence, but this season I was way more laxed and got more confident in my ability to work within the restraints I was under,” the designer said. “I was looking to have more one-on-one time with Columbia’ head of technology to learn all about the fabrications. When you’re a small brand it’s nice to have access to people that are experts in their field and whom you can learn from. It felt like I was taken back to uni.”
As a prime example of her growing expertise in repurposing existing deadstock and technologies in new, elevated ways, Robyn cited Columbia’s innovative OUTDRY technology which served as a foundation for some of her reworked jackets. One style of jacket was made from rain parkas and turned into a cropped puffer that sported an almost theatrical element: sleeves edged with scalloped trim. Meant to mimic the usual stitching lines that make up a puffer jacket’s quilted construction, Robyn’s rendering is much puffier, and, under the spotlights, the scalloped piping shone. “That idea came from visualising a dramatic catwalk with pieces you wouldn’t necessarily see everyday,” she said.
Another piece that proved the designer’s ability to maintain the bedrock of the outerwear brand’s renown whilst tweaking it in her own way was a jacket made from both a Columbia coat and pair of trousers, whose essential features were present but positioned differently. The chest logo of the coat ended up at the back of the reworked jacket, and the trouser’s vented cuffs became the jacket’s vented cuffs. And another jacket was entirely made from Columbia trousers, with 12 pockets throughout.
Tapping into the collection’s theme of après-ski, Robyn’s also sourced boots from Columbia’s Japanese webstore, which were customised with nylon recycled from ocean waste with all-over beaded embroidery of her home island, Ireland, and tonally embroidered with her first name initial.
Of course, knits, which are part of the designer’s Irish upbringing and vocabulary, were omnipresent. She has, though, explored different styles and methods of knitting and introduced, together with her classic merino knits, textured bouclé and chunky knit cotton jumpers. “The bouclé,” she explained, “almost had the texture of a fleece, whereas the knit cotton jumper looked like a vintage find you’d cop in a charity shop, one that’s been washed over and over again.”
She also returned to her family roots by means of her dad’s old-school Dublin football jerseys which got scanned by Synflux, an algorithm-based Japanese company, who distorted the scans and inputted them in cotton yarns with which they’ve made long sleeves tees.
Trousers made from viscose were also thrown in the mix, yet if they are, usually, more often seen in the womenswear division for their lush feel and shininess, the designer cross-referenced hers with typical outdoor wear elements, and made them with a more functional, performance-oriented approach — they were waterproof viscose trousers. What’s more, the pants pattern was a close replica of a pair of vintage hiking trousers the designer bought on eBay.
If this collection proves anything, it’s that constraints don’t necessarily limit creativity; quite the contrary, according to Robyn. “It’s been really enjoyable actually,” she says. “I wanted to tie Columbia’s outerwear technology to my mainline without having the huge budget that they have in technical development. It was a time for me to educate myself and elevate my own use of fabrications.”