Romance Was Born
Australian fashion house known for exuberant prints, imaginative craft, and collaborations that connect clothing with art, performance, and popular culture.
Last updated August 24, 2026
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Overview
Romance Was Born is an Australian fashion house founded in 2005 by designers Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales. The label is recognized for highly expressive clothing and accessories that combine elaborate surface design, bold colour, craft techniques, theatrical styling, and references to Australian imagery and culture. Its work occupies a space between fashion design, art, costume, and immersive installation rather than following a strictly conventional ready-to-wear model. Plunkett and Sales met while studying fashion design at East Sydney Technical College, now part of TAFE NSW Sydney Institute. After completing their studies, they chose to establish their own label instead of accepting an internship opportunity associated with John Galliano at Dior. The brand’s name reportedly originated with a pin purchased in Sydney’s Chinatown by Sales’s cousin. From its beginning, Romance Was Born developed as a designer-led practice in which clothing could function as both a wearable object and part of a larger visual world. The company produces haute couture and women’s ready-to-wear garments, together with accessories. Its designers have also worked across wallpaper, furniture, art installations, fashion photography, toys, theatre, and costumes for musical and performance projects. This broad creative scope reflects the label’s stated aim of creating immersive cultural experiences capable of provoking an emotional response. Collaboration has consequently been central to its identity. Romance Was Born has worked with Australian artists and designers including Del Kathryn Barton, Jenny Kee, Linda Jackson, Ken Done, May Gibbs, and Paul Yore, as well as musical acts such as The Presets and Architecture in Helsinki. Other partnerships have involved Designer Rugs, QT Hotels, Lego, Disney, and Marvel. The label’s commercial and cultural profile expanded through projects outside the traditional fashion-show cycle. In 2008 it created a capsule collection for the Australian retailer Sportsgirl. In 2014, the National Gallery of Victoria presented Express Yourself: Romance Was Born for Kids, an exhibition that transformed the brand’s visual language into a participatory environment combining fashion, art, music, and design. In 2017, Romance Was Born introduced five rugs with Designer Rugs, adapting motifs from its print archives into a homewares context. In 2020, it revisited characters from May Gibbs’s Snugglepot and Cuddlepie books in a reissued collection of garments and accessories. Romance Was Born has received substantial institutional recognition. Works by the label are held by Australian cultural institutions, including the National Gallery of Victoria and the Powerhouse Museum. Its designs were included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2019 exhibition Camp: Notes on Fashion. The brand’s visibility has also been reinforced by appearances on public figures including Cate Blanchett, Tavi Gevinson, Karen O, M.I.A., Natasha Khan, Cyndi Lauper, Lily Allen, Grimes, and Miley Cyrus. In 2018, Plunkett and Sales published Romance Was Born: A Love Story with Fashion, documenting their development within the Australian fashion scene. The designers have also extended their practice into theatre, winning the 2022 Sydney Theatre Award for best costume design of a mainstage production, jointly with Anne Cordingley, for Amadeus.
History
Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales met in the early 2000s while studying fashion design at East Sydney Technical College, now known as TAFE NSW Sydney Institute. Their shared interest in the relationship between clothing, image-making, popular culture, and art led them to establish Romance Was Born in 2005. Rather than pursuing an internship opportunity connected with John Galliano at Dior, the pair decided to develop an independent practice. The label’s name reportedly came from a pin bought in Sydney’s Chinatown by Sales’s cousin. Romance Was Born emerged as a distinctly Australian fashion voice through its use of elaborate prints, vivid colour, craft processes, and references to local stories and visual culture. Its work has often been described as occupying a borderland between fashion and art. In addition to haute couture and women’s ready-to-wear, the designers have produced accessories and contributed to projects involving wallpaper, furniture, installations, toys, fashion shoots, theatre, and music performance. The brand’s approach treats a collection as part of a broader environment or narrative rather than as a group of isolated garments. A major part of the label’s development has been its collaborative method. Its first collaboration was with artist Del Kathryn Barton, and later projects involved Australian creative figures such as Jenny Kee, Linda Jackson, Ken Done, May Gibbs, and Paul Yore. Romance Was Born also designed or collaborated with performers and musical acts, including The Presets and Architecture in Helsinki. These relationships allowed the designers to test their ideas across different media and audiences while reinforcing their interest in a shared space between fashion and art. The label also pursued partnerships beyond the independent art and fashion community. In 2008 it produced a capsule collection for Sportsgirl. In 2017 it worked with Designer Rugs on five rugs based on motifs from its print archives. Subsequent collaborations included QT Hotels and large international entertainment or consumer brands such as Lego, Disney, and Marvel. The brand’s reworking of May Gibbs’s Snugglepot and Cuddlepie characters, released as a collection in 2020, illustrated its continuing interest in Australian cultural references and illustrated storytelling. Institutional recognition followed as Romance Was Born’s designs entered museum and gallery collections. The National Gallery of Victoria holds 13 works, while the Powerhouse Museum holds three cited pieces: an Iced Vo Vo dress, a crocheted dress, and platform shoes. In 2014, the NGV mounted Express Yourself: Romance Was Born for Kids, an exhibition that created a fantastical, participatory setting combining the label’s past and current work with objects from the gallery collection and contributions from collaborators. The exhibition demonstrated how the designers’ practice could be adapted for an educational and public-facing environment. The brand’s international profile was strengthened when its work appeared in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2019 exhibition Camp: Notes on Fashion. Celebrities including Cate Blanchett, Tavi Gevinson, Karen O, M.I.A., Natasha Khan, Cyndi Lauper, Lily Allen, Grimes, and Miley Cyrus have worn Romance Was Born designs. In 2018, Plunkett and Sales published Romance Was Born: A Love Story with Fashion, a book about their rise in Australian fashion. The designers have continued to work in performance and theatre, and in 2022 they won a Sydney Theatre Award with Anne Cordingley for best costume design of a mainstage production for Amadeus. The label’s stated ethos remains the creation of immersive cultural experiences intended to generate an emotional response.
- 2022
Sydney Theatre Award for Amadeus costumes
[1]Anna Plunkett, Luke Sales, and Anne Cordingley win the award for best costume design of a mainstage production.
- 2020
Snugglepot and Cuddlepie collection reissued
[1]The brand re-releases garments and accessories inspired by May Gibbs’s characters.
- 2019
Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition appearance
[1]Romance Was Born designs are included in Camp: Notes on Fashion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- 2018
Fashion history published
[1]Romance Was Born: A Love Story with Fashion is published, documenting the designers’ development in Australian fashion.
- 2017
Designer Rugs collaboration
[1]Romance Was Born launches five rugs adapted from designs in its print archive.
- 2014
National Gallery of Victoria exhibition
[1]Express Yourself: Romance Was Born for Kids opens at NGV International and presents the brand through an immersive, participatory format.
- 2008
Sportsgirl capsule collection
[1]The label produces a capsule collection for Australian retailer Sportsgirl.
- 2005
Romance Was Born is founded
[1]Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales establish the Australian fashion house after meeting during fashion-design studies.
Products and positioning
An experimental Australian designer fashion house positioned between luxury womenswear, art, costume, and immersive cultural design.
Apparel · 2005
Women's ready-to-wear
Romance Was Born’s ready-to-wear work is built around distinctive prints, saturated colour, ornate detailing, and references to Australian imagery. Collections frequently combine conventional garments with theatrical proportions, decorative surfaces, and craft-led interventions, giving the clothing an expressive character that sits between everyday fashion and costume.
Luxury fashion · 2005
Haute couture and statement garments
The house produces highly constructed and visually elaborate garments that emphasize fashion as an artistic medium. These pieces may involve complex textile treatments, crochet, sculptural shapes, embellished surfaces, or narrative references, and have contributed to the label’s presence in museum collections and international fashion exhibitions.
Accessories · 2005
Fashion accessories
Accessories form part of the label’s fashion collections and collaborations. They extend Romance Was Born’s print, character, and craft vocabulary beyond clothing and have included pieces associated with its May Gibbs-inspired collection and other cross-disciplinary projects.
Homewares · 2017
Designer Rugs collection
The 2017 collaboration with Designer Rugs translated five Romance Was Born motifs from the brand’s print archives into floor coverings. The project demonstrated how the house’s visual language could move from apparel into interior design while retaining its emphasis on colour, pattern, and collectible design.
Collaborative fashion collection · 2020
Snugglepot and Cuddlepie collection
This collection of garments and accessories draws on the characters created by Australian author and illustrator May Gibbs. Reissued in 2020, it reflects Romance Was Born’s recurring interest in Australian cultural heritage, illustrated narratives, and the conversion of childhood imagery into elaborate fashion.
Costume design
Theatrical and performance costumes
Beyond commercial fashion, Plunkett and Sales have designed costumes for theatre and musical performance. Their work with Anne Cordingley on Amadeus was recognized with a 2022 Sydney Theatre Award, reflecting the label’s ability to apply its dramatic visual approach to stage design.
Marketing campaigns
- 2020Snugglepot and Cuddlepie reissue
Australia
The label revisited its May Gibbs-inspired garments and accessories based on Snugglepot and Cuddlepie.
Outcome. The reissue renewed the brand’s engagement with Australian literary and illustrated culture.
- 2017Romance Was Born x Designer Rugs
Australia
Romance Was Born and Designer Rugs adapted five designs from the fashion label’s print archive into a collection of rugs.
Outcome. The collaboration expanded the brand into interior and collectible design.
- 2014Express Yourself: Romance Was Born for Kids
Australia
The National Gallery of Victoria created an immersive exhibition around Romance Was Born’s collections, museum holdings, and collaborations. It combined fashion, art, music, and design in a participatory environment intended to encourage play and creativity.
Outcome. The exhibition ran from 17 October 2014 to 12 April 2015 and presented the fashion house as a cross-disciplinary cultural practice.
Brand decisions
2020
Reissue of the May Gibbs-inspired collectionGeneration changeBackground
Romance Was Born had previously developed garments and accessories based on May Gibbs’s Snugglepot and Cuddlepie characters.
Action taken
The house re-released the popular collection in January 2020.
Aftermath
The reissue reinforced the brand’s connection to Australian cultural references and archive-led product development.
2017
Translate fashion prints into homewaresStrategyBackground
The label’s print archive offered a source of visual material that could be adapted beyond clothing.
Action taken
Romance Was Born collaborated with Designer Rugs on five rugs.
Aftermath
The collaboration broadened the house’s creative and commercial scope into interiors.
2008
Expansion through a Sportsgirl capsuleProduct launchBackground
Romance Was Born sought to bring its distinctive design approach to a broader retail audience.
Action taken
The house produced a capsule collection for Sportsgirl.
Aftermath
The project became an early example of the label extending beyond its independent designer-fashion base through a retail partnership.
2005
Founders choose an independent fashion practiceStrategyBackground
After studying fashion design and receiving an opportunity to pursue an internship connected with John Galliano at Dior, Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales decided to establish their own label.
Action taken
They founded Romance Was Born and developed a fashion house centered on collaboration between fashion and art.
Aftermath
The independent model became the basis for the label’s later work across apparel, installations, homewares, theatre, and performance.
Recent events
- 2022
Romance Was Born and Anne Cordingley win a Sydney Theatre Award[1]
Other
The collaborators received the award for best costume design of a mainstage production for their work on Amadeus.
- 2020
Romance Was Born reissues a May Gibbs-inspired collection[1]
Product generation · Product launch
The brand re-released garments and accessories based on characters from May Gibbs’s Snugglepot and Cuddlepie books.
- 2019
Romance Was Born included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Camp exhibition[1]
Other
Designs by the Australian label appeared in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s summer exhibition Camp: Notes on Fashion.
- 2018
Romance Was Born publishes Romance Was Born: A Love Story with Fashion[1]
Other
The designers released a book tracing the label’s development and influence within Australian fashion.
- 2017
Romance Was Born creates a rug collection with Designer Rugs[1]
Product launch
Five rugs adapted designs from the brand’s print archives, transferring its fashion imagery into interior products.
- 2014
National Gallery of Victoria presents Express Yourself: Romance Was Born for Kids[1]
Other
The NGV presented an interactive exhibition built around Romance Was Born’s fashion, artistic collaborations, and themes of play and creativity.
- 2008
Romance Was Born launches a Sportsgirl capsule collection[1]
Product launch · M&A
The fashion house produced a capsule collection for Australian retailer Sportsgirl, extending its design language into a broader retail collaboration.
Sources1 sources
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