Minimidimaxi Magazine

Interview with fashion designer : Todd Lynn A former Smirnoff fashion award winner, this year Lynn was on the panel of judges. Lynn has been involved with the Smirnoff Fashion Awards since its inception and has in recent years provided assistance in establishing the Canadian competition. He credits the awards with raising fashion awareness within Canada and for providing new designers with a springboard to a professional career. “In an industry where new entrants often receive little or no financial or moral support, the Smirnoff Fashion Awards are an incredible confidence boost.” The contest in turn provided Lynn with enrollment in St. Martins School in London. Lynn’s description of his experience as a contestant in the award show seemed a previous life for the designer who is now based out of London and responsible for designing costumes for the likes of U2. Lynn stressed the importance of travel and international experience for young Canadian designers. “Working in Europe changes your whole perspective of what fashion is and for anybody who wants to work in Canada, international exposure or experience is a must”. Lynn emphasized that international experience did not necessarily have to be the result of a contest win. “It does not have to be extravagant or wild because any kind of international exposure contributes to the creative process of designing”.

Throughout the interview you could sense that Lynn had crisscrossed the globe over the last several years and this experience had left a marked imprint on his view of fashion.

“Young designers overlook the fact that by simply traveling and seeing new things can add an invaluable dimension to their creativity”.

After discussing his role as a judge at the awards as opposed to a contestant Lynn went on to take critical view of media fashion coverage in Canada. Not by any means bitter, he did stress that

“media should play a bigger role in promoting Canadian fashion by introducing new Canadian fashion designers to Canadian buyers and foreign markets”.

He acknowledged that this was easier said than done since

“production costs, duty and foreign exchange rates make it difficult for Canadian designers to export their creations”.

Canadian buyers seem reluctant to purchase anything that hasn’t been validated by success in a market outside of Canada.

“When I was living in Canada trying to sell things to stores, a lot of stores would say that they only buy European”. “I don’t think fashion has to come from Europe to be good and although it will take time Canadian designers can effectively compete against their European counterparts.” However, Lynn did feel that “new Canadian designers appear more confident than his contemporaries ten years ago”.

Canadian buyers also “tend to spend less on clothes and fashion than Europeans”.

Again, Lynn was confident that this was slowly changing as Canadians developed an increased awareness of fashion and broadened their tastes.

On a personal level it had been a whirlwind year for Todd Lynn as he wrapped up his design work for U2. At this point in his career he indicated he enjoyed producing limited collections for celebrities. His work has sparked interest in entertainment circles and Lynn has beat out many other more established designers in seizing coveted opportunities. When asked about how long we would have to wait before we could purchase Todd Lynn creations it was obvious that he had given the commercial side of fashion considerable thought.

“You have to make some extremely important decisions when you decide to expand your operations and bring more people on. You have to strike that delicate balance between commercial expansion and a corresponding lack of control. Also, the bigger the operation the more chance of problems”.

He attributed his success to keeping in touch with clients and keeping communication channels open. It is important to Lynn that he work with clients as a team instead of projecting his creations on to them.

In parting, Lynn emphasized the importance as a designer of retaining your sense of individuality and uniqueness and sticking to your principles.

The interview scheduled for twenty minutes had almost run an hour and Lynn did not appear to be susceptible to anxious looking assistants. The interview ended with another round of orange juice and toast for everybody and another laugh as Lynn provided humorous anecdotes about the anxiety of having to work for big celebrities. I left the Metropolitan hotel and made my way on to the busy street. The rain had now stopped. Later that evening at the actual award show, amidst a sea of lights, television cameras, divas and fashion watchers, I noticed that even from the judges podium Todd Lynn picked us out and flashed a sly smile and a nod. It was plainly obvious he was having a blast. Neil K. Reporter