Song for the Mute’s initial runway offering is a manifestation of memory: workwear-influences underscored by emotional interpretations of the past. The shapes are simple yet evocative: anoraks, parkas, and dresses in beautiful fabrics are treated with sun-bleached treatments, mud dyeing and natural dyeing techniques, and weathered finishes, to evoke the grainy photographic memory that remains long after the event. Tanaya explained that it was connected to ghurba, an Arabic term for the emotional state of estrangement and homesickness.
There are elements of sportswear in the latest iteration of their successful and ongoing collaboration with Adidas collaboration. The partnership continues across Originals and Performancewear lines this season, including an update of the Stan Smith sneaker which is set to make a comeback in 2027. Each look is accessorised with trainers from the next instalment of their ongoing collaboration. As the models made their final exit, guests filtered through the same entrance to find pieces from the collaboration hanging on the clothes lines and three new footwear styles positioned on podiums.
“I think the storytelling of how we do things will remind people of why they fell in love with fashion in the first place,” said Melvyn Tanaya, over Zoom, from their Sydney studio.
After years of building Song for the Mute on your own terms, why does now feel like the right moment for an official Paris Fashion Week runway show?
We’ve never really pursued visibility for our own sake. Now, I feel like after 16 years, the timing is right: we’re in over 90 stores globally and we’re ready to expand our European and US stockists. We’ve always seen our collections as a communication channel to express what myself and Lyna are going through in a particular moment. We’ve tried to tell that through different mediums like activations, installations, and special objections, but a runway was something we’ve never done before, and this felt like the right moment to showcase in that format.
Have you approached this collection differently knowing it will be experienced in this format rather than a presentation or showroom?
There has been a massive change between a showroom collection and a runway collection, and I can honestly say it is the most developed and the one collection that we feel the most proud of. We pushed and pushed and pushed ourselves, and I don't think I've ever gone through this many iterations of silhouettes and fabrics. We need to make sure that every single thing is considered, [asking], ‘How do we make every single piece feel like Song for the Mute?’
What aspects of the brand have remained completely unchanged since the beginning?
Song for the Mute has always been about sharing our journey, where it's a true documentation of what we're going through at that moment in time. Our work is rooted in the emotional landscape of our past. Each collection revisits a place that formed us. With Fall-Winter 2026, we looked into Lina's childhood schoolyard in France, or summer spent in Tunisia, the quiet rhythm of decent homelands. We designed from the in between, between cultures and past and present. It's always been about between belonging and longing, so some collections, it's about us, the sense of belonging, but this one is about longing.
What does Song for the Mute bring to Paris that isn't already there?
This is an honest take of a journey for a brand like us. We came from nothing and we wanted to showcase that. We wanted to tell people that, as cheesy as it sounds, we started from nothing and people told us it was impossible – even our parents – and we wanted to share what a momentous journey it has been. We want to tell that story in the most sincere way.
What would success look like after this show?
Success for us is being able to use this platform to tell the holistic story of the brand in this medium and if it resonates with people, if it inspires people, you don’t take that lightly. It’s something Lena says, [that] it almost feels like free-falling. For us, to be a brand from Australia that started from nothing and now we get to be part of the official calendar – that’s a success in itself.
This interview has been lightly edited.
