Show Report
This taut gender-bending silhouette is Lynn's signature, and no biblical edicts against cross-dressing could influence him against this.
Maybe Todd Lynn's place on this rather reduced London Fashion Week schedule provided the inspiration for this collection, as it was fixated with religion, specifically the frills, furbelows and archaic getup of Catholicism. Of course, Lynn's line reduced all this down to mere shadows of its former extravagance: ecclesiastical embroidery was rendered in black crystal, while a papal chaucible was interpreted in black leather. Indeed, leather cropped up all over, in slim-sleeved, narrow-hipped, high-necked jackets and spiral-seamed and zippered trousers. Tourniquet-tight was the silhouette that prevailed, with models smothered from throat to ankle like Edwardian priests, clutching crystal rosaries and with more beads undulating beneath the hems of the brief fitted jackets. Of course, this taut gender-bending silhouette is Lynn's signature, and no biblical edicts against cross-dressing could influence him against this. Rightly so. In a season where the popped-shoulder, structured black jacket looks set to once again be the key piece, Lynn was in his element with darted and seamed numbers, slightly puffed of shoulder, cleaving enviably close to the body. What seemed new was Lynn's engagement with decoration and luxurious, tactile material. Nappa leather and rich fur smothered heads and shoulders, beads smothered shirt-fronts and Christian Louboutin's heels sprouted distinctly Surreal ponyhair toupees from the ankles. In a similar vein, his menswear moved away from the grungy Goth-rock of previous excursions, revelling in the dandyism of velvet and fox - the whole output kept strict and modern through a severe monochromatic palette without a hint of colour. At 22 looks, this collection felt slight, but perhaps in this instance Lynn wanted to keep his audience praying for more.
