For Melbourne based artist, Kate Rohde, who describes her work as the “natural history museum on acid,” a collaboration with Romance was Born for their Renaissance Dinosaur collection seemed the perfect fit. And indeed it was.
For those lucky enough to be at the spectacular Romance was Born show for this year’s Rosemount Australian Fashion Week (RAFW) the chance to do it all over again I’m quite sure would have you leaping into your DIY walking volcano in an instant.
An exhibition of the collaboration, including props, clothing and specially designed wallpaper will be on display at the Karen Woodbury gallery.
The trio - Rohde and Romance was Born designers Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales - spent hours in the studio together in the lead up to their RAFW show that The Vine described as “the most impressive and imposing event of the week to date.”
Sales and Plunkett approached Kate Rohde to work with them on their Renaissance Dinosaur collection for Rosemount Australian Fashion week after seeing her work in a Sydney art gallery.
“They came to me and explained that the theme was renaissance dinosaur, and commissioned me to make dinosaurs in the style of animals and other things that I have done in the past… Lots of bright colours!” says Rohde.
The mutual respect for each other’s work meant that Rohde was able to put her own stamp on things, as well as realising the vision that Plunkett and Sales had in mind for the label.
“It was left quite open… Luke and Anna really had faith and trust in what I do and I felt the same way,” says Rohde.
The merging of art with fashion, and the chance to be a touch outrageous, was something that Rohde relished.
“Both art and fashion have this side which has a market driven and consumer driven element. So it’s nice to work with people who, while they have that side too, like to make things for the sake of making something spectacular,” she says.
Rohde’s psychedelic depictions of nature and animals, and intensely coloured aesthetic will be put to use again when she collaborates with Romance was Born, on a smaller scale, for their Autumn/Winter collection. Rhode hinted that the collection will have an “Asian tropical” theme.
The insider view into fashion and how a show is put together was illuminating for Rohde who hadn’t worked in fashion previously.
“I was intrigued to have that chance to see the whole process. I was always quite blown away by their clothes. Working in the studio and behind the scenes, there were a lot of strange parallels with my own work; deadlines looming, and manic, crazy running around,” says Rohde with a laugh.
“I’d look at certain things, like the body suit and think ‘how can they make this look good’… then to see it and it looks amazing …they (Anna and Luke) have great visualisation.”
The Romance Was Born collaboration with Kate Rohde is at the Karen Woodbury Gallery, 4 Albert street Richmond, until September 18.
www.katerohde.com
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