Australian fashion brand Romance Was Born definitely lives up to its name. Featuring whimsical and creative designs that seem to come straight from a fevered daydream, the founders Luke Sales and Anna Plunkett always remain true to their unique artistic vision. They even turned down a chance to work with legendary designer John Galliano because they didn’t want to compromise on anything!
Co-founder Luke Sales gave some more background about the origin of the name of his fashion house in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar. He said, “Anna and I really started working together at a time when we were really, really into the ideas of love and what romance by definition meant to us. “Romance Was Born” was a slogan we kept using as a joke to call our fictitious label. The name just stuck, I guess, and many of our ideas start as jokes for fun.”
He continued, “But I think it’s important to say we don’t see what we do as a joke. We take what we do very seriously, and even if it looks comical to some people it’s not. We have a serious outlook. For the people who may not understand what we do and our approach, we feel they probably never will and that’s okay with us.”
Coming from Australia, which is pretty far removed from the fashion epicenters and career-making runways of Milan, Paris, and London, Luke went on to say that he and Anna had struggled for a long time to get on the radar.
He said, “To be recognized internationally, it is hard to be so far away. Even with the Internet, it’s still not the same as being on the ground there, and it’s definitely something we are looking into for our future growth. Australian Fashion Week has got us to where we are, but it can only get you so far.”