Futuristic fashion collections take a dim view of the world to come. Designers tend to eschew giddy techno-optimism in favor of either a Blade Runner-esque vision, urban and Orwellian, or a post-apocalyptic Mad Max take on things. Todd Lynn s new collection, shown today, wasn t overtly futuristic, but it had that Mad Max vibe. Lots of black leather and earthy neutrals, shot through with blood red; fabrics caped, stretched, and draped across the body; fur collars that swam up over the face, as though protecting against some species of flesh-eating radioactive bug.
The future according to Lynn isn t all bad, though. For one thing, it s emphatically well tailored. The designer is a whiz with leather, and if you re still in the market for a pair of rock star skinny leather leggings or a sinuous leather jacket with daggered edges, this collection is the place to find em. Lynn also showed some long matte silk skirts, draped Haider Ackermann-style—if these didn t look new, they still looked timely—and several cool knits, including a nice asymmetric wool hand-knit for the boys, and a wool rib for women that hugged the body like neoprene. Good, wearable pieces, these. There were also a fair amount of dystopic-looking men s suits, some with leather sleeves, others with a caped front that definitely fell on the less wearable end of the spectrum. Lynn s most interesting idea had to do with his shoulders: When he wasn t softening them with curved construction, he obscured them completely, creating habitlike collars that folded down over the shoulder, then flared out again. It made for an attractive silhouette. The show s standout piece, however, may have been the heavy-duty, long leather gloves the designer sent out with a good number of his looks: They ll be just the thing when the day arrives for fighting off the zombie hordes. Or, more mundanely, they ll really come in handy next winter.
