Todd Lynn’s approach to fashion reflects the kind of anti-traditionalist attitude that really makes waves in menswear. The Toronto-born, London-based designer’s career started within the dark behind the scenes echelons of rock ’n’ roll, crafting bespoke stagewear for the likes of The Rolling Stones (Lynn went on the Forty Licks tour with the band in 2002 and made pieces for Mick, Keith and Ronnie), Marilyn Manson, PJ Harvey, Marc Almond and Courtney Love. To name a few.

Lynn launched his eponymous line in 2006, and though the past three years have seen his mainline womenswear take precedence, he’s easing back into menswear for SS15. Though gender boundaries mean little to Lynn (though he’s quick to avoid use of the tired ‘androgyny’ tag), there’s a palpable sense of homecoming in his returning men’s collection. Menswear was where the designer started and he his known for his killer tailoring.

Still, any hint of the revivalist is abolished with Lynn’s use of detail, subtly transcending the done routes into something exciting. “It’s so much easier to break [the rules] when you have a framework to burst apart”. Elbows peek through slashes in a slim-shouldered jacket and elsewhere translucent panels are a rousing reference to Jonathan Glazer’s recent sci-fi trip Under The Skin. ‘What is it to be human?’, the film asks.

Lynn’s intrigued as to the answer, though one thing he’s absolutely certain of is our attraction to rock’s enduring charisma. It’s a good start – at least we can dress for it.

Tempe Nakiska: You’ve had three seasons off designing menswear. What sparked your return?
Todd Lynn: I started the label by designing menswear and as the seasons went on the womenswear began to take precedence. Before you know it, you’ve almost forgotten where you began. So the return has been long considered. I wanted to think about what the foundation of my work is about, something that I missed working on. Menswear is my passion, and the womenswear that I do should always feed from that, never the other way around.

TN: What did you learn during this hiatus that you feel you have carried forth into the new collection?
TL: I like that menswear is based on rules. It’s so much easier to break them when you have a framework to burst apart. Vision and product. [And] The fact that menswear is product driven. The fashion press want a story, but the customer wants great, modern clothing.

Interestingly, the women around me in the office and friends, both inside and outside of fashion, want to wear the men’s clothes that I design. This was always part of what I did, right from the beginning. And to be fair, the womenswear that I have done recently has essentially been drawn form menswear like it did in the earlier seasons. It’s a blurring of the lines between the sexes.

I don’t like saying ‘androgynous’, because the word itself is ambiguous and I don’t think that androgynous fashion should be. It’s more about making the clothes your own, and maintaining the person you are while dressing. I like a balancing act between masculine and feminine when it comes to clothes. I have always liked that. For me, that’s real rock ‘n’ roll! The girls should have a certain masculine edge about them, but still maintain that they are women and the men should have at least one shred of camp-ness. Neither should cross the line, but coming peerlessly close to it, is interesting to me. That being said however, we live in a world where those boundaries are shifting and line ‘un-crossable line’ is moving. Men today are much more fashion aware than ever before, and in a way they have been given ‘permission’. Women today demand that the guys they socialise with look good, and it’s not just grooming products anymore.

TN: How does it feel to be designing for men again?
TL: It feels like home. It feels like I never stopped (in a way the women’s collection always had elements of menswear in, just this way I can get back to basics). It’s a targeted audience/customer. It’s not for everyone, and it shouldn’t be either.

TN: The collection itself, you say it was inspired by Under The Skin. What about this film lingered with you?
TL: I was intrigued and inspired by the whole film; the concept, the art direction and the music. I had read the book, heard about the film and couldn’t wait to see it (hoping that it was going to live up to the hype I had constructed in my head). I tend to get obsessed about things like films or music. There’s no half-way.

I guess what lingered with me the idea of the human condition and what it actually means to be human. (I think there are other films being released later this year with similar themes). When I did the research about how Jonathan Glazer went about filming, I was even more intrigued. The idea of hidden cameras and non-actors not recognising Scarlett Johansson, drove home the idea of these weird human being creatures that we are and how really we are just as weird as we would imagine aliens being. The pieces in the collection are just that; elements of menswear with small details that shift the reality of the piece. Of course as a designer, you can’t help delving into the visual elements of inspiration. Hence the transparent shoulder elements. If you’ve seen the film, you will get it. If you haven’t go see it or watch the DVD!

TN: How would you describe your approach to designing the collection? It is a progression, or something anew?
TL: For me the rock and roll look isn’t something that I try to push. For me the collections I design come from intuition. I was thinking about what the signature elements to what I do are, and worked on those. I wanted to make a product that I believed in, this was very important for me; something that had a point of view, my point of view. I’m not trying to dress everyone. This is old thinking.

It’s really a refinement, in a way if you didn’t know my menswear work from the past, you might look at this collection as a culmination of it all. However, I still believe that everyone actually deep down wants to be a rock star and that what I am trying to offer. Clothing is about how it makes you feel. You wear what you wear so that when someone notices and compliments you on your new leather jacket or shirt, you feel good! It’s that simple. And for that reason I believe that fashion is hugely important. It’s not superficial at all when it makes you feel good. Like music, like good food, like all things that provide intangible emotional feelings.

For me this is the opportunity for a new approach. I am tired of the old fashion game. I am not interested in what people think about me as a designer ‘personality’. It’s more important what they think about the clothes. As much as I would love to be a rock star, I’m not, I’m a fashion designer, people have zero interest in what I do in my spare time or what type of ice-cream I prefer. I want to focus on the clothing that I believe in. Celebrity is now owned by reality TV. I have no interest in walking the red carpet with the Kardashians. That’s their job. I’ve made a more defined role of what my job is. And don’t get me started on the “I need a private life” bullshit. People who say that are screaming ‘look at me, I wish I was more famous than I am, so I’m going to say I need my private space’.

And I have a lot of trouble with the ‘business/advertising’ side of social media. I really only want to post things that are relevant to the work, without ramming some type of self-congratulatory advertising down people’s the throat. I want the clothing to be successful, but I want it to be about that, the clothes.

TN: How does your work in the music world continue to inspire you?
TL: I have always been enamoured by music and the music world. I got the bug very early. I can get totally lost in music. I find music so inspiring because it’s most often raw emotion. Musicians generally wear their heart on their sleeve and quite often we owe a lot to them because they are able to put into tune and words, emotions that we are unable to express. They can make what’s going on in our muddled heads make sense. In my mind after food and shelter, music is something we really couldn’t live without. We would all go insane without our daily musical therapy sessions.

I find that I am able to get as emotionally involved with my work. Even if it’s not obvious to everyone who looks at it or wears it, at least I know that it’s there under every seam and collar. So there is a connection between what I listen to and what I am designing. I’m not thinking about musicians or clients. I’m really selfishly thinking of myself, which is kind of how musicals work. They write for themselves and are their own therapists.

TN: What records were on rotation while you were designing this collection?
TL: To name but a few: Reflektor by Arcade Fire, Heaven Or Las Vegas by the Cocteau Twins, Montauk Fling by Lawrence Rothman, Under The Skin (Soundtrack) by Mica Levi, No Mythologies to Follow by MØ.