Show Report
Lynn built his Autumn/Winter 2010 collection around skyward-pointed shoulders, whether rendered in leather, wool or fist-deep silver and caramel coloured fox.
However good a tailored jacket may be, it's difficult to build a collection around it, much less a career - but that seems to be what Todd Lynn has achieved in the life of his business. Lynn's focus is always tailoring - he's strayed into shirts and even a few frocks before, but this season was a resolutely straitjacketed affair.
Lynn built his Autumn/Winter 2010 collection around skyward-pointed shoulders, whether rendered in leather, wool or fist-deep silver and caramel coloured fox. His use of fur throughout was fantastic, as always, whether ponyskin crafted into tight sleeveless jackets or those rich fox pelts wrapped around the shoulders and falling into a fluid knot at the back. Jackets came tricked out in a firm, matte wool or crackle-glaze calfskin in shades of grey, taupe or black, teamed with a slightly fuller shape on Lynn's signature cigarette trousers. Indeed the collection was replete with Lynn signatures - signature backwards-slanting darts, signature androgyny, signature bolder shoulders. However accomplished it all looked, it couldn't shake the feeling of deja vu around this latest outing. Did we really need to see these signatures again? No. What we really needed to see was something new. Rather than looking at the clothes on offer, Lynn's show left you desperately scrambling for new ideas - everyone seemed to comment on the buckled gauntlets from Parisien glovers Perrin, for example, but not much on the clothing itself.
Granted, the real problem with this collection wasn't the clothes. They were uniformly fine - but just that, a uniform. Lynn lovers will find much to covet, but even his most ardent fans will draw the line at yet another black jacket with popped-up shoulders, leather-strapped vest or fur gilet. Perhaps it is churlish to chide Lynn for creating a constant, consistent aesthetic that stands outside of fashion. Then again, if that is the case, why elect to show as part of London Fashion Week, or any fashion week for that matter? Lynn needs to take a long hard look at how - and if - he wants to take both his look and his business to the next level.
