Song for the Mute on its Adidas collaboration and Australian flagship
In line with their name, Song for the Mute has largely let their clothes do the talking but now, with a global collaboration and permanent store, they’re making their biggest statement yet.
When Lyna Ty was tasked by global giant Adidas to translate her label’s idiosyncratic, quietly elevated sensibility into sneakers – the first footwear she’s designed, ever – she turned to what she knew. “I’m not very technical; I’m really bad being behind a computer. I just like to get hands on,” says the designer, one half of Sydney-based Song for the Mute. So, sans cutting-edge tech, without CAD, she began moulding by hand at the Glebe studio of the 13-year-old label that she runs with Melvin Tanaya. “We actually used clay to create a new layer on top of the sole,” she says, noting her own partner is a ceramicist and waves a hand to a series of vases on a shelf in the airy warehouse space.
The resultant Adidas Campus, a revived 1980s style, has a pumped-up base anchoring a raw-edged canvas. No doubt it will be as hard to get hands on as their sell-out first collaboration: debuting in September last year, their rework of the Shadowturf sold 3,000 pairs in 10 minutes. “They give me a shoe and I cut and paste what I have around,” Ty continues in her serene tone with another prototype in hand, a Christo-wrap of a shoe in a thin layer of dark silk, a studio offcut. “I don’t use footwear materials; I try to think of ways to make just like making clothes.”
Adidas have liked what they’ve seen. Ty and Tanaya have signed on with them for two-and-half years, totalling five collections. Their next drop pre-sold this month, including four shoes and a range of clothing, will be available globally making them the first Adidas brand collaboration ever from the Asia-Pacific distributed that widely.
It’s a big step up for a brand that eschews obvious spotlight-plays. Presaged by early stockists in Lane Crawford and Ssense, and while their pieces have a highly loyal following, this opens them up to new audiences. “When you go to the Adidas showroom in Paris, it’s Y-3 downstairs, upstairs on the left is Wales Bonner and then on the right is Song for the Mute,” says Tanaya, incredulity detectable. “It’s something that we would never be able to dream in the beginning.”
Neither would having their own permanent store, just opened in Sydney’s George Street. Like the collabs, the opening’s pushed the duo outside their comfort zone, admitting they’re the kind needing prompting to celebrate these moments. “We are from Australia, we’re kind of in our own bubble,” says Tanaya.
For Ty, who is the creative lead, Tanaya the business side, though they build collections and concepts together, being siloed geographically is a plus. “People always say if you’re in fashion, you should be in the big cities like Paris or London or New York, but I think the good thing about being in Australia is we’re a little bit more humble and quiet. We don’t get disturbed by the trend or what’s going on in the industry,” she says.
Which has been formative in shaping their aesthetic. “There is a stereotype of Australian fashion; this summery, laid-back lifestyle. But we’re quite international. Everyone that works with us comes from everywhere. My parents were immigrants. To be Australian is to be from everywhere,” says Ty thoughtfully.
Her own approach to fabric was shaped on the factory floor in Paris where her seamstress mum and pattern-cutter dad worked when she was a child. She would hide among the fabric rolls, play in rooms filled with buttons. “I knew how to sew from when I was five or six.”
For Ty, who studied at Accademia Italiana di Moda in Florence, collections now begin with fabric. The pair has built relationships with mills in places like Japan – who also supply Comme des Garçons – Italy and France. Recently the mill that creates Chanel’s tweeds has begun making for them, reinterpreting Ty’s inspiration, her sketches, paintings, words – she writes a lot when formulating a collection – into a tweed.
In this way, silhouettes aren’t complicated. Workwear and menswear shapes (womenswear launched in 2015) populate their output as does tailoring, mellowed with the offhand attitude of contemporary streetwear. It’s elevated with heritage fabrics and detailing of a level executed by European houses. “The international stores saw this quite early on. They said, ‘Your basic is not basic, man,’” says Tanaya.
“We’re not the kind of designers to revolutionise something. We just want to make nice clothes that you wear every day,” adds Ty. “Any season can be worn with the next. You will wear it right now, but you will bring it back in your 50s.” Tanaya immediately points to the jacket he’s wearing, “This is 2020,” he says with a grin.
That every collection, or ‘chapter’ is inspired by something personal to Ty – from holidays in Tunisia to family albums – adds to the sense of authentic everyday luxury – call it quiet luxury for the tapped-in younger sister. Lined up, the mix of brocade, waxed cotton and knits have the tactile realness of someone’s actual lived-in wardrobe. Adidas had to adapt to this. “The fabric’s quite unusual for them. It’s quite fancy compared to what they would usually use,” says Ty of a charcoal tracksuit in jacquard and mesh with muted orange trefoil inspired by colours of the early 00s, quieter in tone than the high energy colour palettes of a sportswear brand. “I guess it’s when we had to learn with each other,” she continues. “We’re not loud in any way.” And yet, they’re making a lot of noise.
This article appears in the September issue of Vogue Australia, on sale now.