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Elliot Ward-Fear isn't the only emerging Australian fashion designer with big branding ideas. Just three seasons old, Sydney menswear label Song for the Mute has recruited Polish model Pawel Bednarek for its Autumn/Winter 2011 campaign and lookbook shot by Bowen Arico in and around Wollongong. Although not as feminine as Australia's Andrej Pejic, Bednarek nevertheless definitely has the moment's popular androgynous look - as harnessed in editorials by publications such as Dazed & Confused Japan. Which suits the cool, asexual vibe of much of Song for the Mute's clothing. The brand is designed by Melvin Tanaya and Lyna Ty (below), who will take their winter collection - entitled 'Milieu' - to the upcoming Paris mens' Fall/Winter 2011/2012 fashion week (January 19-23), where they will be represented by Showroom Romeo. Song for the Mute is also among five finalists for the 2011 L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival Designer Award, a competition that has previously been won by Josh Goot, Friedrich Gray, Romance Was Born and Dion Lee. The event runs from March 14-20 and as previously reported, will be attended by Dazed Group co-founder Jefferson Hack - who apparently won't just be speaking at LMFF's hugely popular Business Seminar, but may even DJ at a soiree. 
all images: bowen arico for song for the mute/supplied exclusively to frockwriter by die cast agency
Last night the L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival announced more details of the lineup for its 2011 event, which will run from 14-20 March under a new creative director, Condé Nast's former mens fashion director Grant Pearce. Now in its 14th year, LMFF is a consumer-focussed event of in-season fashion parades and exhibitions that are open to the public. But ironically, it’s the industry-focussed Business Seminar that is arguably its hottest ticket, with a stellar lineup of speakers that has previously included former Selfridges ceo Vittorio Radice, Philippe Starck, Agent Provocateur’s Joe Corre and Serena Rees, Vivienne Westwood and last year, LMFF's first really big fashion kahuna, Calvin Klein Collection womenswear director Francisco Costa. In March, Jefferson Hack, editorial director of London’s Dazed Group, will join ACNE Studios ceo Mikael Schiller and Havas Worldwide ceo David Jones, in addition to 2011 Festival face, New York-based Australian actor Melissa George. George is a Perth native, but will nevertheless inject some Hollywood glamour into the event. Hack will inject the cool factor. A multimedia svengali who is hardwired into the indie fashion zeitgeist, Hack is now a front row fixture at every major international fashion show alongside fashion establishment stalwarts such as Anna Wintour. Even The Guardian recently asked its readers, could he be the coolest man in Britain? The co-founder of hipster bible Dazed & Confused in 1992 at age 19, Hack's empire now embraces Dazed Digital, AnOther Magazine and AnOther Man. Being Kate Moss' babydaddy hasn’t hurt his profile. Here is a taste of what the LMFF 2011 Business Seminar audience can expect: an interview Hack did earlier this year with The Business of Fashion’s Imran Amed, as part of BOF's 'Fashion Pioneers' series:
There are more LMFF announcements to be made but one of them, frockwriter understands, will not be that Burberry creative director Christopher Bailey is joining the 2011 lineup. Bailey has been courted by the event for several years. But that’s not to say that we don’t be seeing him downunder next year. In April, Burberry is due to unveil a massive new 7000 square foot boutique at 343 George Street in Sydney, one of its biggest flagships in the Asia Pacific region. We hear that Bailey may be heading down to cut that ribbon.
If so, that will make April a busy month for fashion bigwigs in Sydney. Sources at Diane von Furstenberg report that the queen of the wrap dress is heading our way in April, no doubt to officially christen her first Australian boutique that has just opened within Westfield Sydney.
