The owner of Burnt Soul Clothing, a Bristol-based studio that designs and sells incredible Lycra catsuits and other fashion pieces, is in the final stages of packing up her Bristol location before she moves back home to Cornwall. Her studio at Filwood Green Business Park will close this weekend.
Robyn Lythe started Burnt Soul Clothing back in 2012 as a side project and 2015 as an official business, and has since gone on to create colourful fashion pieces for festival-goers and celebrities alike. But she’s packing up shop and heading back to her hometown of Newquay, where she says she will continue the business in a more streamlined and sustainable way from here on out.
She announced the closure and move back in August, posting the following message on social media, and now, with the doors to her studio closing for good, Robyn tells BristolLive: “It’s going to be so hard.
“Moving to Bristol has been such a major part of Burnt Soul. I think if I wasn’t in Bristol I don’t think I would have done Burnt Soul, because the scene here really inspired me to start it – that party scene, and the creative hub that Bristol has as well.”
Robyn started out making wedding dresses and then started making catsuits on the side for some friends, the reaction from whom she describes as being “amazing” and the reason behind her decision to make the switch from wedding dresses to Lycra. “I loved doing the wedding dresses but it was a different kind of thrill,” she says.
“I love colour and bold patterns and being creative, so I think with this I could merge those loves. I love pattern cutting, too, which is why I went into doing wedding dresses in the first place, so Burnt Soul just merged all of my loves together and from it came these catsuits.”
Margot Robbie, Marina of Marina and the Diamonds, and Miley Cyrus, are just three of the celebrity names that have worn Robyn’s designs in the past – and only two of them were custom made by Robyn and her team especially for the occasion. She says: “I didn’t custom-make Margot Robbie’s catsuit, which she wore as Harley Quinn in the Birds of Prey film, we didn’t even know that she was going to wear one in the film until someone screenshotted her wearing it on screen and sent it to us.
“I think it belonged to the stylist and they just used it, but was incredible to see. Then we’ve designed things for Marina who was amazing to work with. She got involved in the design process and she gave us a brief and then we created a range of designs around that, and she came back with little notes.
“It was for her ‘Froot’ tour, so it was all really jewel coloured, brightly coloured catsuits to match the amazing headdresses she had. She had these diamante cherries and neon fruit signs on her dresses, which was incredible. And then we’ve also worked with Miley Cyrus. We just got an email from one of her stylists one day asking if we’d be interested in working with her and creating a glitterball catsuit, which we obviously did. That was crazy and I think one of the hardest but the most rewarding jobs we’ve ever done.
“That was definitely the thing that catapulted us into the mainstream, which was really really cool.”
As Robyn, 41, makes the journey down to Cornwall, she says that for the first couple of months she will just go back to being the sole staff member, having bid farewell to her Bristol team who are all off to pastures new. She adds that she will use this time to concentrate on where she wants to take the business, and then she can start rebuilding from 2025 onwards, to try and fit a new market.
The online store will be closed for two weeks to help Robyn get settled in Cornwall, before reopening with a vast array of much loved stock available. “I’ll still be doing custom requests,” she says, “but it won’t be as flexible as we’ve been in the past.”
When speaking about the decision to move back home, Robyn says: “I’ve been in Bristol now for 20 years. I can’t believe where the time’s gone and I’ve loved every minute of it, but I’ve always felt a pull back to the sea and to the coast and to home.
“And I always feel like going home whenever I go back there to visit. I think when it comes to things in the business, there’s a lot of elements there that just seem to be shifting and I felt like I was at a crossroads, so I felt if I was going to ever do it, now would be the time. In this chaotic world, it will be really nice to just have some calm.”
And in terms of the future of Burnt Soul Clothing, which has almost 60,000 followers on Instagram, Robyn says: “I really want to bring vibrancy and fun – Newquay is fun anyway, but I’m looking forward to adding my own take into the scene and just creating a community down there like we have done in Bristol.
“I’ve already had so many people reach out. It’s been so lovely, so I know that I’ve made the right decision and I can do that in a way that suits my needs, and a way that can ensure it’s sustainable, while taking it a little bit easier. I say all of this but I know I’ll get excited when I’m down there and go crazy again.
“Our new premises is just off the High Street and it used to be a shop, so I’m going to try and see if we can decorate the front and maybe work with local artists and try and make it a place people can come and visit. So, even though it won’t be like an open shop, you’ll still be able to come visit and knock on the door, and I’ll be working in there. It should be really fun.”
In a final message to her Bristol fans, Robyn told BristolLive: “I’m going to miss my team. I feel like I’ve been really lucky with everyone that I have had working for me in the past. Being such a creative hub has been really inspiring, and it’s going to be so sad to leave them, and the city of Bristol.”