Romance Was Born On Australian Fashion, Cultural Sensitivity, And The Fine Line Between Borrowing And Theft

Romance Was Born will be in conversation with Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson tonight, as part of Sydney Design Festival. Find out more here.

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The fashion industry is not well known for its sensitivity. Just this year, an Indigenous community in Mexico threatened to sue Isabel Marant over a suspiciously familiar blouse; TopShop copped it for a feathered headdress; and ELLE Canada found themselves in hot water over an ode to the Dashiki. And Australia has not been immune: last year, Melbourne streetwear label P.A.M. was accused of appropriation by a widely shared anonymous video.

Great fashion design is often supported by a magpie instinct, the ability to pluck shiny things from the brush and reimagine their uses — but being able to temper this borrower’s tendency with a bit of cultural awareness is something of a superpower.

It’s a superpower Luke Sales and Anna Plunkett of Romance Was Born clearly possess. Their latest collection, Cooee Couture, panned for gold in the muddy waters of Australian history and came out shining.

Drawing inspiration from cockatoos, opals and Nolan’s Ned Kelly, the collection was made in collaboration with printmaker and Australian fashion legend Linda Jackson. It repurposed some of Jackson’s kaleidoscopic archival prints remaking them in fully sequined glory, and layered metres of her hand-painted silks on top of each other to create rainbow fairy dresses as bright and dizzy as a Nimbin sunset.

“There’s only so far we will go,” says Sales of their work. “With Cooee Couture, we tried really hard not to reference Indigenous work too much in our designs, because we don’t feel that we’re close enough to be able to give an educated representation.

“But when we cast the show, we wanted it to reflect all Australians. Indigenous Australians, and the multicultural nature of Australian society. It’s something so important to Anna and me, in our personal lives as well, and it’s something that we are so lucky to have in Australia.”

“[Designing is] a very emotional and reactive process,” Plunkett adds. “I think driving it from that place means we can avoid being overly influenced. We’re like horses with blinkers on; it just comes straight from the heart.”

Their work doesn’t set out to be too political. “We don’t want to make a statement, because we’re not really well informed enough to incorporate a big political message — but the clothes do have meaning,” Sales says. “I think if it’s clear that you’re just trying to make something that is beautiful and respectful, then people will understand that.”

Mutual respect is also at the heart of Romance Was Born’s approach to collaboration. Since the label’s inception a decade ago, they have worked with artists as diverse as Del Kathryn Barton, the Sydney Theatre Company and Nicki Minaj. As often as possible, this process begins with a studio visit “so we can get mutual understanding” — but frequently the designers find themselves working with friends.

That’s certainly been the case with the Jackson collaboration. In the 1970s, along with her dear friend (and fellow icon) Jenny Kee, Jackson put Australiana style in the popular global imagination. The pair shared a boutique in the Strand Arcade, Flamingo Park. There, Jenny Kee knitted elaborate and beautiful sweaters that sported native fauna and flora (even Princess Diana wore one of her Koala jumpers), while Jackson created ball gowns inspired by the same source material, like the desert pea dress, which Romance Was Born revisited more than thirty years later.

Having “lived through everything we’ve gone through”, Jackson and Kee have become “life mentors” for Sales and Plunkett. All four of them will be speaking on a panel at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum this Friday, as part of Sydney Design Festival. “Every time Jenny and Linda talk, Anna and I don’t say much. There’s so much to take in and it’s all really valuable,” says Sales.

When asked how they go about reaching into someone’s personal archives, Sales explains, “I think it’s the approach of just trying to be gentle, to celebrate someone else’s work as you make your own. I think they cotton on to that. They know we’re not trying to rip them off.”

That being said, the pair are also acutely aware that originality has its limits. When asked about the recent plagiarism conflict between Melbourne label Di$count Universe and New York brand B Calla — a fray that Romance Was Born’s own designs, from 2008 no less, have been dragged into — Plunkett paused for a moment before speaking. “Everything is borrowed in a way. Nothing is original and everything comes from somewhere. He [BCalla’s Brad Callahan] was just doing what he thought he was doing. He’s worked with her before. And they [Di$count Universe] were doing that too.

“Once you have a thought and put it out there, it can’t be protected after that. It’s in the air. It might feel frustrating, but it’s not that big a deal.”

Like their forebears Kee and Jackson, Romance was Born’s designs are about to go global. Next month, they will take their collection to Paris for the first time, supported by the Australian Fashion Chamber.

“I hope they’ll find [our work] refreshing,” reflects Plunkett. “We’ve kind of hit a crossroads and I think everyone who needs to know who we are already does in Australia… but Paris is a gateway to the rest of the world.”

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In Conversation: Jenny Kee, Linda Jackson and Romance Was Born at Sydney Design Festival, hosted by Nell Schofield.

Wednesday September 9, 6.00 pm –9.00 pm @ Powerhouse Museum — tickets here

Published in partnership with Sydney Design Festival.

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Alyx Gorman is the Fashion Editor of The Saturday Paper. She also writes about clothes for The Guardian Australia, tweets incoherently about miscellany @AlyxG and sometimes posts selfies on @AlyxGorman