Song for the Mute fall winter 2023

Song for the Mute (SFTM) presents the fall winter 2023 collection.

POSSIBILITIES BEYOND THE NORM. IRREVERENCE IN THE FACE OF CONVENTION. 2023.

At the turn of the new millennium, things were set to remain just as they always were. There were those, however, who refused to accept the status quo, the daily commute; the two-a-penny office cubicles; the idle water cooler chit-chat.

In 23.2 2000, Song for the Mute’s latest collection, creative director Lyna Ty rallies against the numbing sameness of the contemporary mainstream. Humdrum silhouettes and sartorial motifs are quietly recast, provocative clashes of texture and colour throw traditional conceptions of fashion off balance.

The creative medium for exploration of the above is Song for the Mute’s first film. A group are seen meandering the labyrinthine concrete bowels of a brutalist monolith. Striding, descending, looping to a soundscape by German electronic music producer Boys Noize. They appear in stark relief to their clinical surroundings, undercutting an atmosphere of oppressive uniformity with irreverent self-expression.

The season’s menswear toes a line between brooding classicism and rebellious eccentricity. It embodies a renegade insouciance – a yen for studying the rules, only to rip them up and collage them anew. Gentlemanly overcoats in coarse russet tweed and boxy wool tailoring with shrunken lapels are paired with slouchy sportswear, chunky knit balaclavas and fingerless opera gloves. The louche conservatism of a macintosh is toyed with through progressive fabrications – teal technical satin and moiré, corporate-issue monogrammed denim, and neon-framed gridded knit. Tactical vests are rendered in matted, painted sherpa, and wide-legged cropped trousers appear in crushed nightshade velvet.

No less potent in its subversion, this season’s womenswear sees staunch tailoring counterposed by zingy fabric treatments and effortlessly svelte lines. Architectural dry wool blazers are elongated, exuding sharp- shouldered strength, with their structural formality tempered by the fluidity of silk cloqué slip dresses and halterneck jumpsuits in cobalt crochet and polka dot knit. Notch-lapelled coats, cropped trousers and a relaxed blazer are patchworked from prosaic tweeds and checked wools, while slim-fit separates and boxy short-sleeved shirts are streaked in electric, petrol hues.

Across both, a neo-hippy flair is felt in painterly floral silk plissé and hefty ochre jacquard knit coats. A grungy dissidence informs striped mohair sweaters and tonal wool cardigans with intentionally threadbare cuffs, complemented by the moody timbre of workwear silhouettes rendered in slick umber faux-leather and khaki vinyl.

23.2 2000 showcases the second iteration of Song for the Mute’s collaboration with German sportswear brand adidas. In charcoal grey, earthen brown, emerald green and lime technical mesh and nylon, roomy track jackets and trousers, zippered crop-sleeved overshirts and boxy shorts aptly harness the spirit of turn-of-the-millennium sportswear, elevated through contrast fabrications and a clean-lined silhouettes. The now iconic SFTM-001 Shadowturf footwear – debuted in the collaboration’s premiere for 22.2 – sees a return once again, executed in distressed brown canvas; and is now accompanied by SFTM-002 Campus, a fittingly millennial era shape, reinvented and executed in black, army green and off-white distressed canvas.

Through its rebellious remit, 2000 becomes a reminder of the subversive potential of dressing. In the face of banality, clothes become tools of dissent, opening pathways to new possibilities – reminders of your agency to protest the conventional.

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