LONDON — Dublin-born menswear designer Robyn Lynch is unveiling an upcycled capsule with Irish flair as part of a collaboration with C.P. Company at her fall 2024 runway show.
The designer, who has focused on her father’s soccer past as a source of inspiration in preview seasons, this time is spotlighting her younger sister Adrianna’s career as a professional Irish dancer, and the rhinestoned, over-the-top outfits worn during Fèis, the Gaelic dance championships.
Having recently remodeled a dress she made for her sister inspired by Beyoncé’s white lace Grammy outfit in 2016 for her tour with a troupe as a lead, Lynch said it was the documentary on BBC called “The Year That Rocked Irish Dancing” that inspired her to fuse her Irish heritage with her passion for performancewear for fall 2024.
“It’s about a cheating scandal where people were paying the judges off. The dance started as a traditional group dancing and then it evolved into this competition but completely bonkers. I think it’s camp and culturally important, but also iconic,” she said.
“When I was watching the documentary, these kids are amazing athletes. They are dedicated to their craft and they train five times a week. It got me thinking about all their performance wear and how C.P. company also takes themselves very seriously. Their level of manufacturing, the functionality and the performance that goes into that is similar to this glitz and glam,” she added.
The main collection will feature a series of witty, subtle nods to the elaborate competition outfits that cost up to 4,000 pounds, such as these diamante mini skirts custom-made by an Irish dancing company in Birmingham, worn under a loose sweater or a sports jacket.
The collaboration with C.P. Company, meanwhile, comes with a limited run of pieces with deadstock C.P. Company garments deconstructed and reassembled through the lens of Lynch, while keeping the original design’s functionality.
“I pitched them a project and took note of the dancing dresses, which are one-off creations. So I want these jackets to be completely one-on-one as well. When they go on sale on my website, every single one will just be in a variation of sizes,” said Lynch.
In one design, Lynch embedded the knitwear into the design, and C.P. Company’s signature goggles built into the hoods of jackets are lasered with Celtic embroidery for this capsule as well.
“I wanted to reshape them into our silhouette. Normally they’re quite fitted. I wanted to make them to have a boxy, cropped feel. I also changed around the position of the logo with the badge,” she added.
According to Lynch, the collaboration came after over a year and a half of relentless attempts to get in touch with the Italian brand. She was eventually introduced to the company by Andrew Groves, professor of fashion design at the University of Westminster, and the director of the Westminster Menswear Archive, whom she studied under. Groves is known to have a sizable range of C.P. Company items in the archive.
“For me, it’s more exciting to work on a collaboration and share archive pool and reference resources. At the moment in my career, it is an accessible way for me to get materials that I wouldn’t necessarily have the ability or the manufacturing skills to make so that fulfills my design. I would love to continue to push this concept and maybe push it into the realm of luxury,” said Lynch.
For the show, the designer also collaborated with Geox for a series of prototypes that embody the literal dad shoes trend.
“I knew I wanted to reference my dad’s all-time favorite shoe, the perennial Geox Uomo Snake. We created three variations, each in a different combination of browns and blues, seamlessly incorporated into the silhouettes,” she added.
Founded in 1971 by Massimo Osti, a young graphic designer from Bologna, C.P. Company was originally known as Chester Perry and made a name for itself by releasing screen-printed T-shirts. In the wake of lawsuits filed by Chester Barrie and Fred Perry, both claiming Osti had unlawfully used their name and surname, respectively, the brand’s name was changed to C.P. Company in 1978, simultaneously opening the way for a more experimental design approach and a focus on outerwear, which attracted international youth subcultures.
Today, creative director Paul Harvey and Massimo’s son Lorenzo — who has served as president since 2019 — continue the business, which in 2015 came under the control of Chinese company Tristate Holdings Ltd, which also owns Nautica, Cissonne and the operation rights to Reebok in China.
Lynch made her runway return in 2022 with a collaboration with the outdoor brand Columbia. The same year, she was nominated as one of the eight brands competing for the 2023 International Woolmark Prize. Last year, she presented a show titled “Greetings From Ireland” at Now Gallery in London’s Greenwich.