After spending some time thinking about how she could combine her love for fashion, art, music, and desire to work with creatives, young designer Robyn Keyser launched her label Artclub and Friends in November 2016. At the core of the label is ensuring that everything is locally made.
As a label they are trying to create clothing that reflects youth culture and the kinds of conversations that young people are having at the moment. This can be seen in their first collection which combines traditionally masculine cuts with colours that are usually translated as feminine colours. The merging of these replicates post-gender conversations which subvert the assumption that there are only two genders and that each of these can only be associated with particular styles. This exploration of gender neutral clothing also comes from a personal space for Robyn. Growing up she considered herself a tomboy and refused to wear the colour pink because of what it represented. However, it has been interesting for her coming into contact with the colour as she has gotten older. This can be seen in the t-shirt which has “Pink is not a gendered colour” printed on it. The vision is to make clothing that people wear because they want to, not because it has been dictated to them.
The name Artclub and Friends reflects how Robyn imagines her label being involved in a number of collaborative projects. The tagline ‘Wear me and make art’ captures this desire to collaborate with artists, performers, musicians to create clothing that speaks to a variety of people and can become physical manifestations of her emphasis on working with and caring for people. Their first of these projects was a collaborative t-shirt design with Thor Rixon in conjunction with his launch of ‘Songs from the Bath’. Artclub and Friends is also planning to invite artists to combine their chosen mediums with clothing and curate an exhibition for charity.
Paying homage to where she draws inspiration from is part of the foundation of Artclub and Friends. It’s about “understanding inspiration, acknowledging it, giving credit where due. Not just about seeing a trend, adapting. It’s about understanding what you are designing,” Robyn explained.
Be sure to check out their Instagram page and website to have a look at their first collection and to keep up with what they have planned for the year.
