Sydney Uni came to life with a Renaissance Dinotopia by designers Luke Sales and Anna Plunkett of Romance Was Born. After setting an enormous benchmark in previous years, it would be hard to top the eccentricity of the two preceding shows. If anyone could push the boundaries further this year at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week it was always going to be Romance Was Born.

The dinosaur inspired theme trickled through into the hair, make-up and nails. Colored hair wefts were laid out – standing by for the ten ready to wear models. A collection of multi colored false nails that measured 7 centimeters long were prepared for the models wearing couture. Across the room models were being body painted, blonde hair was being sprayed black, eyelids were bejeweled with intricate crystal work and faces were adorned with lace appliqué.

The abundance of models, colour, mayhem and dino-rama was somewhat overwhelming, but after seven hours backstage it all started to feel quite normal.

Hair Director Lores Giglio had her storyboards laid out with precise instructions for her looks; Nail Slut, Snake Guts, Volcano Girl, and Dino Slut all required six hands to one model. According to Lores ‘Romance, never do anything in halves’, which is evident by the amount of work in styling, hair and make up, without even mentioning the clothes.

As the night went on the atmosphere progressively built. The last of the models arrived (at 10pm) and were rushed into hair and make-up as the tinkering of the piano echoed through the church-like venue.

Although the show went on late… very late, there was no disappointment in what Romance Was Born produced. The use of nostalgic music- the theme song from Jurassic Park was signature Romance.

Romance Was Born have secured themselves as Australia’s quirkiest export. The industry will wait with baited breath for this spectacular to be superseded next year.