MAGNUM OPUS
For the Sydney Opera House’s 50th anniversary, Australian label Romance Was Born fashioned the costumes for historic drama Amadeus, leading to an unexpected union between historic Austria and modern Australiana. Jonah Waterhouse gets an exclusive preview.
At first, it’s hard to imagine a collision between 18th-century baroque Austrian glamour and unmistakable elements of modern Australian kitsch. Nonetheless, the outré scene inside Romance Was Born’s Sydney studio on one rainy day in October proves stranger things have happened, but few have looked this enchanting.
The workspace of the revered Australian label, which is known for its coloured garments made with impeccable handiwork, is looking especially vivid today. Inside, a fitting is taking place for actors Rahel Romahn, this year’s recipient of the Heath Ledger Scholarship, and Lily Balatincz, lead players in the Sydney Opera House’s forthcoming production of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus. Loosely based on history, the play documents the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Romahn and Balatincz playing Mozart and his wife Constanze, respectively. Welsh actor Michael Sheen will take the role of Antonio Salieri, the gifted but less recognised composer rumoured to be Mozart’s foe, in a story immortalised in the 1984 Academy Award-winning film of the same name. Come December, it will be performed for the first time in 16 years as part of the Opera House’s 50th anniversary. Romance Was Born founders Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales are creating the bespoke costumery.
It’s a production of a magnitude that would feel daunting to some. But flittering around the studio in Romance’s joyful pieces, Romahn and Balatincz are having the time of their lives. “I look like a gothic Willy Wonka,” Romahn says as he tries on a Spanish matador’s coat with tight sleeves and a high waist, its craftsmanship visible in painstakingly applied floral appliqués. Meanwhile, Balatincz slips into a tulle dress from Romance Was Born’s resort ’19 collection, which will be repurposed for an onstage number under the guidance of costume designer Anna Cordingley. Some will notice indelible elements from the brand’s history since its 2009 beginnings; for one,
prints from resort ’19 by iconic Australian designer Jenny Kee are visible in the structured seams of a sharp-shouldered cape for Mozart. Austrian history meets Australian design royalty.
“Our starting point was going through our archives with Anna [Cordingley], and seeing how she responded to our pieces,” Anna Plunkett says of her and Sales’s discussions with the costume designer. “We know our archives, but when you have someone come in with fresh eyes, it’s really interesting how they see things.”
Cordingley, a set, costume and exhibition designer who’s worked on productions of Richard III and Storm Boy, was familiar with Romance Was Born’s trademark aesthetic, and wanted to ensure the garb of 18th-century Austria was intertwined with elements of Australiana; a birdlike feathered headpiece there, a floral-print dress there.
“There is a daring that’s undeniable in Anna and Luke’s work,” says Cordingley. “I don’t know if they’re capable of being – and this is said with the most love I can possibly deliver – subtle. And that’s great.”
If anything, it means Romance Was Born was the perfect choice. It takes a penchant for extravagance to master the fashion of such a decadent era. In 18th-century Europe, womenswear featured restricting corseting, while even the men wore large, bouffant-style wigs. Cordingley’s collaboration with Romance Was Born ensured all characters are clad in the brand’s preternaturally bold clothes, while embodying the era’s natural kitsch.
“Even the characters who are on stage as waiters or valets who are outside the central action still wear wild outfits, because that’s Anna and Luke,” Cordingley says. “I doubt that’s true of any other Amadeus [production].”
At the time of interviewing, Plunkett and Sales were yet to finish all 64 costumes, but a pinboard of sketches in the studio indicated the enchantment we can expect. For Constanze Mozart, a character known for her flamboyant style, a puffed-shoulder dress has been created with a giant crinoline skirt typical of the time, modelled from Romance Was Born’s psychedelic gumnut autumn/winter ’13/’14 collection. It appears effortlessly flamboyant in the sketch, but creating such pieces presents new terrain for Plunkett and Sales.
“The underpinnings of the costumes were something we hadn’t had much experience with,” says Sales, referring to the undergarments built into corsetry and performance attire pre-20th century. “Even in men’s suiting, that kind of tailoring isn’t something we do much of.”
Also on the board, a dramatic midnight blue hooded cloak for Constanze, modelled from Romance Was Born’s resort ’22 collection. LED lights in its fabric help it evoke a sense of outer space, and it’s nothing short of a visual dream. Balatincz’s sensibilities align with those of her fictional character, as it’s her favourite piece to look at. “It’s like wearing the night sky, it’s other-worldly,” she enthuses.
Amadeus charts four compositions Mozart wrote in his life: The Marriage of Figaro, Requiem, Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute. Each is performed briefly as part of the play, and, with the help of Cordingley, Romance Was Born used each opera as an opportunity to showcase their own unique take on the historic texts. For example, the plot of The Magic Flute involves animals, so reinterpreting the archives of their collection with Kee, which involved artisanal animal prints in its silk pieces, made sense.
“When we were asked to take on [the project], we were told the reference to the original time period wasn’t going to be so set in stone,” Sales says. “As it’s gone on, we’ve decided it’ll mirror it stylistically, but not necessarily accurately, and in the four operas, that’s when the costumes are going to be more Romance Was Born.”
The still-under-wraps stage design provided even more of an opportunity for their pieces to pop. “They’re building a giant stage in the Opera House for the first time, and it’s very stark and modern. It’s basically a runway,” Sales says. (Nothing that Romance Was Born doesn’t already have experience with.)
If it sounds and looks like gleeful fashion, it’s because it is, and that joy can be measured through Romahn and Balatincz – thespians who’ve found themselves in a fashion fantasy and are loving every minute of it.
“Seeing what they’ve designed, this is far and beyond what any actor can imagine,” Romahn says. “We’re in the best hands possible.” Amadeus is at the Sydney Opera House from December 27 until January 21, 2023.
“There is a daring that’s undeniable in Anna and Luke’s work. I don’t know if they’re capable of being – and this is said with the most love I can possibly deliver – subtle”