{"id":867300,"date":"2025-12-05T11:29:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T08:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=867300"},"modified":"2025-12-05T11:29:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T08:29:00","slug":"irish-designer-robyn-lynch-is-riding-the-green-wave-her-own-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=867300","title":{"rendered":"Irish designer Robyn Lynch is riding the \u2018green wave\u2019 her own way"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Dazed Day Out with Robyn Lynch<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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Gallery \/ 7 images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Guinness has been around for over 250 years, and yet its cultural cachet has reached new heights in 2025. Over the past two years, the black stuff has seeped into fashion collections, collaborating with <\/span>JW Anderson<\/span><\/a>, Labrum London and, as of this week, Lazy Oaf. In September, Steven Knight\u2019s Peaky Blinders<\/em>\u2013style Netflix series House of Guinness<\/em> took over our screens (quickly dubbed \u201cthe Succession<\/em> of the brewery empire\u201d). And next week, a huge new Guinness Open Gate Brewery opens in Covent Garden.<\/span><\/p>\n

It might be the greatest glow-up in stout history, and with the brand\u2019s popularity booming, it was high time that the staff at Dublin\u2019s Guinness Storehouse had their uniform upgraded, too. Naturally, there was only one person for the job: Dublin-born and raised menswear designer Robyn Lynch. \u201cIt\u2019s a cool drink to drink, but the [Guinness Storehouse] uniforms didn\u2019t feel very cool,\u201d she tells me from a cosy corner of The Auld Shillelagh, arguably London\u2019s greatest Irish boozer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Marking the Storehouse\u2019s 25th anniversary, Lynch was enlisted to redesign the staff uniform over a year ago, spending months digging through the brand\u2019s vast archive. \u201cThey used to give half a glass of Guinness to pregnant women in Ireland,\u201d she laughs. \u201cIf you went into hospital, it would be prescribed to you \u2013 for the iron!\u201d<\/p>\n

Coincidentally, these aren\u2019t the only uniforms Lynch has been asked to design this year. Before Guinness came knocking, the V&A was already on her doorstep, and in May, it was announced that she had designed the staff uniforms for the new V&A East. Known for her workwear-inspired, genderless silhouettes, electric colourways and sly, embedded humour, Lynch was the perfect pick to give institutional uniforms a modern edge.<\/p>\n

After graduating from Westminster with an MA in Menswear in 2018, she enrolled on the British Fashion Council\u2019s <\/span>NEWGEN<\/span><\/a> initiative, going on to produce a total of four on-schedule shows between 2022 and 2024. She hasn\u2019t shown since AW24, not only for financial reasons, but because London Fashion Week Men\u2019s ceased to exist this summer. If she wanted to return to the fashion week schedule, she\u2019d have no choice but to follow her peers (<\/span>Saul Nash<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Grace Wales Bonner<\/span><\/a>) and show in Milan or Paris.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Below, the designer opens up about her conflicted feelings around fashion, the true cost of putting on a show, and why London\u2019s recent \u201cgreen wave\u201d \u2013 the widespread embrace of Irish culture \u2013 feels like both a blessing and a curse. <\/span>After catching up over a Guinness, we spent a Dazed Day Out<\/span><\/a>together: visiting her new Mare Street studio, strolling through London Fields, and stopping in at Irish bookshop Donlon Books. Scroll through the gallery above to see what we got up to \u2013 or read on for the next chapter of Lynch\u2019s story.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Robyn Lynch’s Guinness Storehouse uniforms<\/span><\/span>Courtesy of Robyn Lynch<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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How would you rate The Auld Shillelagh\u2019s pint of Guinness?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robyn Lynch:<\/strong> Oh, ten out of ten. I personally think it\u2019s the best pint of Guinness in London. It\u2019s our unofficial fashion show afterparty pub.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Have you noticed that lots of Londoners seem to have become obsessed with Guinness lately?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robyn Lynch: <\/strong>Yeah, it\u2019s funny. But I don\u2019t think it\u2019s just Guinness, there are loads of things having that same come-up. I don\u2019t know how I feel about it; it\u2019s a good thing, I guess.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How is designing uniforms different to designing runway collections?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robyn Lynch: <\/strong>It\u2019s so much harder. The functionality is so important, you can\u2019t bullshit anything. It has to be worn every day, whereas I\u2019ve designed things for runway before and they haven\u2019t been manufactured in the best way \u2013 they look great on the runway, but they fit awfully, there are imperfections, but you kind of get away with it because it\u2019s mainly used for image making and aesthetics. You can\u2019t get away with adding a \u2018Dry Clean Only\u2019 label to a daily uniform!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The last time you showed a collection was AW24. Do you have any plans to return to the fashion week schedule?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robyn Lynch: <\/strong>The honest answer is that I don\u2019t know. AW24 was my last NEWGEN show, and with NEWGEN, they fund the location, the security, the WiFi, the bin removal, heating, everything, so when that ended, I had to really look at the costs. Even if I scrimped and saved, it would still cost \u00a350 grand minimum \u2013 and that\u2019s not including making the collection.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t come from tons of money. I\u2019m super privileged to get to where I am, but not to the point where I can mess with that much of an investment, just for marketing\u2019s sake. So for me, it doesn\u2019t really make sense. But that doesn\u2019t mean I don\u2019t miss it, and I applaud Saul [Nash] for going to Milan. I would love to be able to do that. But the funny thing is that my sales are better than they\u2019ve ever been. I haven\u2019t invested in shows, but we\u2019ve done mini moments, whether that\u2019s been dressing Fontaines D.C., or throwing something on Instagram and putting up a few snaps.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I don\u2019t come from tons of money. I\u2019m super privileged to get to where I am, but not to the point where I can mess with that much of an investment [in a runway show], just for marketing\u2019s sake<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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I imagine Fontaines D.C. have helped bring in new customers too\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robyn Lynch: <\/strong>They are incredible. As people, as human beings, their music is incredible. I\u2019ve been listening to them since 2019, so it\u2019s been amazing to see their growth and to have their support.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you were to show on schedule again, would it be in Milan?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robyn Lynch: <\/strong>Yes, but then if we do go to Milan, my community isn\u2019t there. Sure, the press and the buyers are there, but the people who fuck with my brand are not in Milan. They\u2019re not there to give me that energy or to come to the pub with us afterwards and celebrate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What advice would you give to the current NEWGEN designers?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robyn Lynch: <\/strong>Don\u2019t focus on wholesale. Focus on building direct-to-consumer sales and let wholesale be subsequent to your business plan. If you are beholden to someone\u2019s payment plans and payment structure, you do not have the ability to grow. If you don\u2019t have the cash flow to fulfil that production order, they will drop you in two seasons, no matter who you are.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you ever feel like the industry is positioned against you as a female designer? Particularly as a woman designing menswear?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robyn Lynch:<\/strong> For design, no. For selling and networking, yes. I\u2019ve never felt penalised or different when it comes to design, but when it comes to selling, I\u2019ve become aware of how much of a boy\u2019s club it can be. That\u2019s a bit alienating, but I\u2019m trying to learn how to use that to my advantage. When I started to do my own sales, I realised that all the buyers are male and the crew that they operate within is very, very male-centric.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Robyn Lynch’s Guinness Storehouse uniforms<\/span><\/span>Courtesy of Robyn Lynch<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Right, it\u2019s not just the creative directors that are men, it\u2019s all the people behind the scenes too\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robyn Lynch: <\/strong>Exactly, it\u2019s the whole business. It\u2019s not the design element, but it\u2019s what comes after that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Would you ever want to go to a brand?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robyn Lynch:<\/strong>I think everybody would. I love my brand and I love what I do, but I can only do so much because there are so many limitations. I\u2019d love to be able to design and operate within a space that has unlimited resources \u2013 that\u2019s the dream. To be able to get the nice fabric and not have to substitute it with the deadstock one. Imagine being able to sketch something and then handing it over to someone who can figure out how to make it happen.<\/span><\/p>\n

What makes a collection a Robyn Lynch collection?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robyn Lynch: <\/strong>Irishness.<\/span>It\u2019s always been Irishness, whether that\u2019s through cultural references, humour, graphics or music. That\u2019s what I\u2019m known for, but I\u2019ve been toying with it recently because of this \u2018green wave\u2019, as people are referring to it. When I started doing it, I was one of very few people, but now it\u2019s becoming increasingly popular that it\u2019s making me second-guess it. Now I question, is it a bit embarrassing or a bit gimmicky now? We once did a collection that was all green, but that now feels incredibly embarrassing to me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I feel like this goes back to my question at the start, about Londoners adopting Irish culture.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robyn Lynch: <\/strong>Yeah, it is that. Because it becomes a gimmick. But Irish people play into it too much, and that\u2019s when I have a problem with it. I sound so hypocritical \u2013 I had the Guinness harp on a knit in 2023! But I have a problem with people who really overtly play that card, because it harbours that gimmicky nature.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How are you feeling about 2026?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robyn Lynch: <\/strong>Super excited. We have our first shoe coming out with Geox, we have our project with Guinness and I\u2019ve just moved into a new studio \u2013 I\u2019m trying to be more of a grown-up. Then it\u2019s going to be about refocusing on the brand and figuring out which way to take it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Source URL: https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/article\/69232\/1\/irish-designer-robyn-lynch-green-wave-guinness-interview<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Dazed Day Out with Robyn Lynch Gallery \/ 7 images Guinness has been around for over 250 years, and yet its cultural cachet has reached new heights in 2025. Over the past two years, the black stuff has seeped into fashion collections, collaborating with JW Anderson, Labrum London and, as of this week, Lazy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":867301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[76],"class_list":["post-867300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-dazeddigital-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=867300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/867301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=867300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=867300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=867300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}