The first menswear label to win the venerated title, Song For The Mute has taken this year’s Designer Award at the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival. The award is aimed to support ‘up and coming’ designers (i.e. in their first five years of business) to make sure they really are ‘the next big thing’ (i.e. giving them $10,000 cash and the opportunity to mingle with industry heavyweights in Paris or Florence).
The competition was tough this year, with Song For The Mute up against finalists including Arnsdorf, Bassike, Ellery, Lui Hon, Dress Up, Laurence Pasquier and fellow menswear label, From Britten.
Based in Sydney, Song For The Mute is the combined vision of award winning graphic artist Melvin Tanaya and Whitehouse graduate Lyna Ty. A crowd favourite for their interesting approach to tailoring, Song For The Mute are a welcome addition to Australia’s not-nearly-extensive-enough menswear landscape. The judging panel comprised Vogue’s Kristy Clements, David Jones’ David Bush and Myer’s Judy Coomber.
The Designer Award has helped propel the careers of Romance Was Born, Josh Goot, Dion Lee, Friedrich Gray, Claude Maus, Yeojin Bae, Mad Cortes and Toni Maticevski.
Words By Ingrid Kesa
