The Irish Menswear Designer Robyn Lynch Gets Back in the Saddle with an Upcycled Rapha Collab

Robyn Lynch’s wry-eyed riff on 1990s Irish casual menswear, as honed from her home outside Dublin, has been a highlight of recent Fashion East presentations at London Fashion Week. This lockdown season however, things are different.

Shortly before the portcullis crashed down, Lynch connected via Instagram with Ger Tierney, who is Associate Creative Director at Rapha. For those who don’t know, Rapha is a highly technical British cycling brand with a classical aesthetic that’s much beloved here: Cycling around Regent’s Park recently I reckoned at least 20 percent of the speedsters overtaking me were Rapha-branded.

“I asked her if I could take her for a coffee and pick her brain, because I ve been a long term fan of Rapha, although more of like a secondhand cycler up until recently,” said Lynch. “The pattern cutting they use to imitate the posture, oh my God.” The two Irishwomen met, talked, got on, and then: “obviously the pandemic happened.” Since then Lynch has taken up cycling—one of the best forms of socially distanced transport around—and put together a collection featuring her own upcycled deadstock spliced with some of Rapha’s. Lynch, who has received no grants or funding to help her weather the pandemic, has this weekend put up a straight-to-consumer store from the collection that you can check out via the London Fashion Week portal. The clothes by no means count as technical sportswear, but play with the references Rapha’s contribution allows.

As for Lynch’s progress as a cyclist, she says things were often wobbly at first but she’s determined to stay on the road.