Set in the expansive grounds of the picturesque Sydney University, the most highly anticipated show of the season- Romance Was Born- came to life. As guests snaked up Hogwarts-eque stairwells and corridors, a cloaked, masked musician played hauntingly behind a grand piano while a hyper coloured plush dinosaur sat inert before him. Ancient bird calls greeted guests as they entered the main hall, where a glitter splashed runway, demarcated on either side by fossils and stones, smoked with musky smelling incense. It felt like the dawn of time, as unseen, prehistoric creatures rumbled menacingly from some unknown place in history. As the lights finally went down, the pent up tension that fixated the crowd expelled itself as frantic applause and excited cheers erupted throughout the hall.

There is little to say about the clothes themselves as they came down the runway, save that, if you took a moment to decontextualise and deconstruct, there were some beautifully made, completely wearable pieces beneath the ostentatious costuming. But I digress- who wants to decontextualise when the most fabulous theatrics and creativity in Australian Fashion are offered up to you in such an enticing package of sight, smell and sound? Romance Was Born, as always, offered guests a completely visceral experience, unparalleled in any capacity by other ready-to-wear designers. 

Models appeared as if risen from some ancient tomb, adorned in jewels and formidable claw like talons in metallic shades. This was an army of eternally restless, primordial sprits liable to rip your heart and eyes out with their bare hands. As the music shifted into more mellifluous tones, evolution began; both in story and in clothing, as the first real couture piece, an erupting volcano, was introduced, announcing the arrival of the dinosaurs. Suddenly, the move shifted to one of Darwinistic enlightenment, as birds of paradise and reptilian creatures slithered down the runway. Finally, these feathered, scaled monsters reached their destination as prehistoric beasts, horned, spiked, colourful and strong.