Last Word: Romance Was Born

from Sullivan+Strumpf Contemporary Art Gallery Sydney, Australia and Singapore - May/Jun 2021

Maria Fernanda Cardoso: Gumnuts and Sandstone

Luke Sales, co-founder of Australian fashion house, Romance Was Born has the last word on his recent collaboration with Glenn Barkley.

Collaboration has always been a part of the Romance Was Born story. Our label began out of the initial collaboration between myself and Anna [Plunkett] while we were still at fashion school. The first thing Anna and I did together outside of the classroom was make costumes for the lead singer of a band called the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

I remember bringing a bag full of bits and pieces over to Anna’s place for us to work with, things I’d collected over the years. Certain fabrics, kids toys, sequin dresses, a whole bunch of different crap. Anna had lots of her own bits and pieces that she’d collected too. We kinda made different piles out of all the stuff that we thought worked well together, and then we turned each pile of things into a garment. In 24 hours we proceeded to make 10 outfits for Karen O’s Australian tour. Needless to say they were not exactly couture, but the garments had an energy I responded too. Working with Anna made my mind go to places it has never been before. Looking back, I think the reason our experience was so creatively charged was seeing the mix of things that Anna and I put together give each other’s “stuff” a new life.

“Collecting things always inspires our work. In a way, I collect artists and call on them when and if the time is right.”

Collaboration still feels like this for me. This is the kick I get from working in fashion more than the fashion itself. The creative fulfilment I seek from fashion is the union of different ideas or counter energies that bring to life a whole new world.

Collecting has always been a big part of what I do, and I don’t mean art. I have always collected objects, lustre ware, trinkets, old fabrics for its print, or a special bit of embroidery or hand beading. Collecting things always inspires our work. In a way, I collect artists and call on them when and if the time is right. When Anna and I are putting together a range, in my mind there’s a story forming that I’m trying to tell. If I feel our work would be supported by a certain artist and that their work might help convey the story, then it just feels right to collaborate. It was never our intention to work like this, but once we started this extra energy really gave us what we were searching for.

Glenn’s work reflects his own love of collecting, ideas, stories and philosophies. Experiences he has collected his whole life that make Glenn who he is. This made me think of memories and knowledge and that they are the same thing. Knowledge is power but it is also who we are. We are who we are from all the knowledge we collect in life. We are just a collection of memories. In some really obscure way this is what drew me to Glenn’s work. I could see lots of him in the work but also lots of me and Romance Was Born too. This was why I wanted to get the photos with the pieces we used in the collaboration to reflect Glenn’s world more. We shot it in the stockroom at the gallery against the works of Glenn’s that we used in the prints. We used Glenn’s friends to model, the bags they’re holding are like little baskets. I imagine them foraging and collecting stuff to put in their porcelain token bags. Glenn’s token buttons on the garments are like little treasures you find and keep over time. A nice bit of shell or driftwood, your Gran’s old cameo, an old coin, a broken bit of a statue. It feels like they have been added to each garment over the years and so, each piece comes with a history or their own collection memories. Which is exactly what we have always sough out to do as Romance Was Born.