hey, someone sent this to me on one of the U2 lists:
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Ryerson grad dresses Bono
Todd Lynn's 'effortless' designs suiting U2 tour from the Toronto Star, May 24, 2001
by Bernadette Morra
When U2's lead singer Bono takes to the stage at the Air Canada Centre
tonight, he'll likely be doing so in a black leather jacket by Ryerson fashion grad Todd Lynn.
"I'm doing loads of work for Bono right now," Lynn declares from his studio in Bromley, England, where he now resides. Custom designs include an Easy Rider-style black leather jacket with large red star stitched over one breast pocket. Bono has worn the garment to open a number of shows on the band's current Elevation tour.
Lynn also made the petrol blue jacket worn by the singer in U2's Elevation video, as well as numerous other styles, including a denim jacket with leather sleeves.
"Their last tour was so over the top, they wanted to bring things down to a
more intimate level," says Lynn. "They wanted the clothes to look
effortless, like what they'd wear everyday.
"But," he adds, "the clothes still have to look good in photographs because
the images will live forever."
For performance wear, the leather specialist searched for a lightweight skin
and left it unlined, "because Bono sings for an hour and a half before a
clothing change and leather is hot." So why use it at all?
"Rock stars love leather because it always looks rock and roll."
Lynn hooked up with the band after meeting its stylist, Sharon Blankson,
while doing his MA at the prestigious Central St. Martins College of Art and
Design in London.
"I sent her my book after school ended last summer," Lynn recalls. Blankson
responded with requests for pieces for U2's promotional tour in the U.S.
last fall and things have snowballed from there.
Lynn, an Ottawa native, moved to Toronto in 1987 to attend what is now
called Ryerson Polytechnical University.
In 1991, he won the Smirnoff Canada student fashion award for a sci-fi
leather ensemble featuring slashed pants and a jacket with snap-off sleeves
and molded bra cups.
He launched his own label, Red Like a Butcher Shop, but his big break came
when Hamilton-born photographer and director Floria Sigismondi commissioned
him to outfit shock rocker Marilyn Manson for a video.
"I had to make him look like a Victorian doll with joints at the elbows and
knees. It was outrageous and wild." And it led to more commissions from
Manson, from leather corsets to coats.
Lynn put aside as much money as he could from the jobs, and, in 1998, took
off for Central St. Martins, which boasts fashion stars such as John
Galliano among its graduates.
"It was a really hard course - night and day - compared to Ryerson," Lynn
recalls. "They get you to question everything you've ever thought about
fashion. They break you in two until you're a shell and then start to build
you back together again. You come out with so much more knowledge. It was
brutal, but I did well."
Now he's jet-setting to concerts in Miami and Los Angeles and mixing with
stars like Cameron Diaz, Brad Pitt and Naomi Campbell, who's a good friend
of the band.
Lynn has also received editorial coverage in British magazines such as The
Face, ID, Dazed and The Fashion.
"But I'm not doing this job for publicity," he emphasizes. "The band members
are so nice and it's fun creatively. I'm doing exactly what I wanted to do."
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