Romance in the capital: The designers happy to hang in Canberra

The anniversaries of most love stories are celebrated with lavish dinners, sparkling jewellery or breakfast and supper in bed, but Australian label Romance Was Born likes to push the envelope.

After 20 years of creating intricate and amusing clothing that defies the churn and burn of fast fashion, and delights the likes of Cate Blanchett and Rose Byrne, design duo Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales now have their portrait by Samuel Hodge hanging at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.

Hanging in Canberra is rarely the dream of fashion designers, who prefer pictures of Paris and Milan for their mood boards. Being preserved in portraiture would never have occurred to either Plunkett or Sales when they met in 2002, while studying at East Sydney TAFE’s Fashion Design Studio.

“I find the idea of just a normal portrait a bit bizarre, especially when we feel like we’re so young in our career,” says Sales, in front of the artwork revealed on Friday. “I would say we’re halfway through our career, but who knows?”

Plunkett adds: “It’s all rather humbling, but when you’re hanging beside Nick Cave, it really doesn’t get much better.”

For 20 years, the Romance Was Born designers have been the darlings of dressers who appreciate clothing layered with meaning and emotion. Turning their back on internships with John Galliano in Paris to start their label, they have attracted artistic appreciation rather than the financial success of Zimmermann or the label recognition of Aje and Camilla.

“The other day, I was in an Uber with Anna, and I was like, if we just made clothes and sold them like everyone else, our lives would be so much easier,” Sales says. “But it’s just not how we work. We have these big ideas, and we want to follow them.”

It’s the exact reason why National Portrait Gallery director Bree Pickering welcomed Hodge’s collage, interweaving the brand’s history with images of Plunkett and Sales, into the collection.

“There have been very few fashion designers who have been so unique and had such an impact,” Pickering says.

“Fashion is something for everyone every day, and we have to have fashion in the collection. We also have a broad view of what creativity is and fashion designers are artists for us. The opportunity to bring their artistry together with Samuel Hodge’s work … we knew we would get something completely amazing, which we have.”

In the past, Hodge’s work has involved pinning countless images to a wall, but for this commission something more permanent was required. Elements of collage remain, assembling images acquired through a 20-year friendship with Plunkett and Sales.

“These kinds of works are akin to the teenage bedroom wall or scrapbook,” Hodge says. “There’s a lot of affection. Everything is a memory that’s triggered.”

Images of Sales and Plunkett, surrounded by cloudlike shapes, float at the centre of Hodge’s artwork.

“That’s our work in a lot of ways,” Plunkett says. “It feels like a bit of a dream.”

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