Sydney label Song for the Mute hits right note for fashion win

A SYDNEY fashion label yesterday won the Melbourne Fashion Festival's most prestigious prize when Song for the Mute snared the $20,000 MFF Designer Award.

Song for the Mute designers Melvin Tanaya and Lyna Ty walked away with a prize that included $10,000 cash and a trip to attend either the Premiere Vision trade fair in Paris or Pitti Filati in Milan after impressing the judges with their autumn-winter range, titled Milieu. Inspired by Ty's late grandmother, the menswear collection fused masculine and feminine elements to create an androgynous feel featuring plenty of draping and cocoon shapes.

"All the garments have a cocoon shape and the seams twisting from the back to front," Ty said. "I wanted to capture that feeling of losing someone and needing to feel cocooned."

The duo are both just 25 but already have a strong focus on using quality fabrics, often with innovative treatments; the collection they showed yesterday comprised 80 per cent merino wool."We always start with the fabric," said Tanaya. "It's the process of merging pure construction and new shapes to heighten the natural qualities of the fabric."

Long-line coats and fitted wool jackets with upright collars were worn on the runway with leggings, baggy trousers or harem-style shorts, in a palette of mostly black with flashes of oatmeal and cream.

The pair's triumph over seven other finalists was all the sweeter considering their original autumn-winter collection was lost in January in Paris after a freight mix-up.

They had just four days to remake it from scratch to present it to the awards.

"We were very close to giving up because it was so very much work to get done," Tanaya said.

The MFF Designer Award judging panel included Vogue editor-in-chief Kirstie Clements, representatives from David Jones and Myer, and MFF creative director Grant Pearce.

The pair's efforts drew high praise from Mr Pearce. "I've just returned from the shows in Milan and Paris and their collection stood up completely in terms of quality and innovation," he said.