How this celebrity stylist captured authentic Melbourne style on screen
From Beyoncé to Swift Street, Ntombi Moyo is back on home soil and making waves in the Australian filmmaking scene, one outfit at a time.
When Ntombi Moyo was given the task of shaping the aesthetic narrative of new crime-family drama Swift Street, it felt personal from the outset.
“These are the streets that we roamed in,” the Australian-reared designer and celebrity stylist says, reflecting on the longstanding friendship between herself and series creator Tig Terera.
“Tig is a special collaborator for me because we worked together years back when we didn’t have resources like this.”
For Moyo – whose celebrity clients have included Beyonce, Rihanna and Adele, to name a few – the journey from dreaming of future collaborations to bringing them to life on screen is a significant moment.
“I don’t know what year, maybe like 2017 or 2018, we would be like ‘We’re going to do it like this one day,’ so to come back and do the things that we used to speak into fruition, that’s really exciting,” she says.
Swift Street, scheduled to premiere on Wednesday night on SBS, intricately blends personal history with the fictional backdrop of Melbourne’s underworld. It was a compelling enough premise to prompt Moyo’s return from New York to lead the costume design team.
The story centres on Elsie, a street-smart, world-weary 21-year-old portrayed by Perth-born actor Tanzyn Crawford (Tiny Beautiful Things), navigating the challenges posed by her hustler father, Robert, played by New Zealand actor Cliff Curtis (Avatar: The Way of Water), who is pursued by a volatile crime boss.
For Terera, the series serves as a tribute to the diverse inner-Melbourne community he calls home. For fellow Melburnian Moyo, the aim was to bring authenticity into each character’s appearance.
Moyo’s career began in Melbourne, initially in fashion photography. It was here that she started elevating the shoots she was working on through styling.
“We were doing all these campaigns and shooting all these people; sometimes the way that they were dressed wasn’t quite aligning with the vision for me,” she says.
“Once I started doing it and people saw a need for it, everything just kind of branched out from there.”
Her keen eye for detail garnered attention, leading to more opportunities at the studio, and beyond.
“The international projects have been truly amazing. I’ve been fortunate to work with big celebrity names like Beyonce, Rihanna, and Adele,” she says.
When asked about standout moments from her international career, she reminisces on a specific project for rapper Megan Thee Stallion.
“They kept adding celebrities on the day of the shoot, and you have to kind of just make things work for them,” she recalls. It was the music video for Megan Thee Stallion’s hit track Body, which featured numerous celebrity cameos, including model and TV personality Blac Chyna and actor Taraji P. Henson.
“You know, if Taraji P. Henson is being walked into a room and you have to dress her in 30 minutes unplanned, you just have to trust and work with what you have and create something special,” Moyo says of that particularly exhilarating day. Now in Australia, she’s happy to be back on home soil and working on projects she feels personally connected to.
“It’s so special to me because it’s shot here,” she says of the series. “I fell in love with the story itself, with where we’re shooting. Taking in the Melbourne landscape and reminiscing about our upbringing and how we expressed our creativity as well, because the story revolves around a group of young, creative kids, which, you know, I greatly resonate with as someone who grew up here.”
Moyo’s intimate knowledge of the location and characters has enabled her to breathe life and authenticity into Swift Street through the clothes she chose, helping to tell the story of the characters and their inner worlds in their wardrobe choices.
“With costume design in film, you’re narrative-led; you have to honour the story, as opposed to trying to thrive within the costume,” she says.
Staying true to the characters’ backgrounds and their fashion choices was paramount for Moyo.
“Tanzyn Crawford (Elsie), our lead, is portrayed as expressive but not affluent,” she says.
So how does she approach her wardrobe? Moyo experimented with sourcing DIY-looking garments to maintain authenticity while allowing the characters to express themselves.
“It’s not necessarily about coming from a wealthy background, but how you express yourself and utilise what you have,” she says of the thought process behind her work. Introducing eclectic, young and creative styles such as Crawford’s on screen is something Moyo wants to see more of on Australian TV.
Conversely, for Curtis’s character, the wardrobe revolved around nostalgic memorabilia because he was “quite caught up in a different time in his head mentally”.
With Curtis, Moyo adopted a different strategy of embracing what would now be considered period pieces. “What did an early 2000s suit look like back then? And portraying that in the present day, how does it compare to the rest of the wardrobe?”
Her approach to designing costumes for Curtis’s character was deeply rooted in his story arc and development.
In doing so, she says his character offered an opportunity to explore the complexities and layers of humanity that nostalgia and identity can present.
“Even Cliff Curtis may not be his best self as we see him now as the leading character, but we can see who he was in the past,” she says. To show this, Moyo considered what someone such as Curtis’s character might think of as meaningful items to wear. This included the suit from his wedding day, as a way to depict his desire to reconnect with happier times in his life.
“Fashion is a big pioneer within getting a message across,” Moyo says. “You can’t ever overlook fashion and how we express ourselves.”
Swift Street premieres at 8.30pm on Wednesday on SBS and SBS On Demand.
Undoubtedly, the collaborative process of costume design is what Moyo values above all else. “When working on costume design, we’re interpreting a director’s vision, shaping narratives, so alignment with the story is crucial. It’s not just about my creative expression — it’s truly a team effort, collaborating with directors, producers, and storytellers,” she says. Moyo also stresses the importance of feedback throughout the process, while also asserting the significance of self belief. “They’ve brought you on to a job for your particular eye and your experience so you kind of have to stand confident in what you know as well whilst working with the team,” she says.
Moyo’s return to Australian soil marks a new phase in her career, one where she plans to champion diversity and innovation in the local filmmaking and television scene. “I really want to be actively involved in all that’s going on within the film space here,” she reflects. “You’re still pushing what filmmaking looks like within the Australian space and it’s really nice to be part of the people that are advocating for that. We need support and we need production companies and people to fund us to do great, amazing things, that’s all we want to do as creatives.”
Swift Street premieres at 8.30pm on April 24th on SBS and SBS On Demand.
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