For veteran Australian director Jocelyn Moorhouse, black comedy “The Dressmaker” was like “Unforgiven” with a sewing machine. In the movie, a Paris fashion designer (Kate Winslet) returns to her dusty, hateful outback town in the early ’50 to exact revenge with haute couture style.
For the film’s two costume designers, Margo Wilson (who focused on Winslet) and Marion Boyce (who handled the rest of the wardrobe), “The Dressmaker” was like “Cinderella” meets “Pygmalion.” At first, Winslet transforms the shopkeeper’s dowdy daughter (Sarah Snook) into a princess. Then the other wicked women pay Winslet to use her sartorial magic on them.
“She had been working for many years as a dressmaker in exclusive Parisian fashion houses, so she needed to look different from the rest of the town,” Wilson told IndieWire. “Her mentor was Madeleine Vionnet, one of the leading designers [between the Wars]. Her wardrobe was very simple, rich, royal colors with no florals or patterns.
For the film’s two costume designers, Margo Wilson (who focused on Winslet) and Marion Boyce (who handled the rest of the wardrobe), “The Dressmaker” was like “Cinderella” meets “Pygmalion.” At first, Winslet transforms the shopkeeper’s dowdy daughter (Sarah Snook) into a princess. Then the other wicked women pay Winslet to use her sartorial magic on them.
“She had been working for many years as a dressmaker in exclusive Parisian fashion houses, so she needed to look different from the rest of the town,” Wilson told IndieWire. “Her mentor was Madeleine Vionnet, one of the leading designers [between the Wars]. Her wardrobe was very simple, rich, royal colors with no florals or patterns.
- 9/22/2016
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Toronto – There have been some bad world premieres at the 2015 Toronto Film Festival, but Jocelyn Moorhouse’s “The Dressmaker” has them beat in one significant category: there are worse movies to watch on a plane. Based on Rosalie Haim’s 2000 novel, the story begins with Myrtle “Tilly” Dunnage (Kate Winslet) returning to her very small hometown of Dungatar, Australia (so small it's basically one street). Tilly left the town under mysterious circumstances as a small child and returns years later as an expert fashion designer and seamstress. An unexpected return that is a complete surprise to he overly quirky mother Molly (Judy Davis). We soon learn that Dungatar is full of colorful folk including a crossdressing police sergeant (Hugh Weaving), a cruel and vindictive herbal medicine store owner (Barry Otto), a town councilor with a secret past (Shane Bourne), a studly star football player (Teddy, played by Liam Hemsworth) and...
- 9/15/2015
- by Gregory Ellwood
- Hitfix
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