A day at the dressmaker

 

The Ripponlea Homestead

The station signage from the movie

Today I made my way to the costume exhibition of The Dressmaker held at Ripponlea estate in Melbourne Australia. The Dressmaker based on the acclaimed novel by Rosalie Ham is about the story of Tilly Dunnage (played by Kate Winslet ) a dressmaker and the town of Dungatar set in the 1950’s. Tilly returns to the town to find out about a missing link in her childhood memory. As the mystery unfolds she changes the town with one frock at a time. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie not only for the story line but also the finely executed couture in the film. The film is now an Australian classic and the costume designers Marion Boyce and Margot Wilson brought the Characters to life with their designs. 

Upon walking up to Ripponlea estate you are greeted by the train station sign in the movie “Dungatar” and a red carpet leads you into the exhibition. The grand entrance to the house you are greeted by the “red coat” that Tilly wears at the football match. It is truly stunning piece with a wide shawl collar and circular skirt made from a vintage red moire silk taffeta.

This would have to be one of my favourite pieces in the collection.

The rooms are filled with many other designs (see photos) all have matching hats gloves and bags as were styled in the movie. Though one room is a collection of vintage hats all on stands and you are transported in time to a 1940’s boutique.

There is also Tilly’s sewing room set up with the original sewing machine in which Kate Winslet learnt to sew with to be authentic to her character. The room is filled with patterns, fabric and sewing notions.

Tilly's sewing room recreated from the film.

The piece de resistance was the fairy tale ball gown which was a strapless boned bodice with a full skirt of a pastel mint silk netting embellished with Swarovski crystals and sequins.

On the bodice was a gold flower flower necklace that was sewn on to the front. This embellishment finished the whole design and brought the gown to have a Cinderella type effect. This gown was worn by the character Gertrude when she attends the footballers ball to impress her secret crush. 

I really don’t want to give away the whole exhibition as I do want you to find out the magic of the gowns and have the same wow factor I did. It was all very well executed and the costumes in real life were more amazing than on the cinema screen. The exhibition will be open every day for viewing till the 30^th of July at Ripponlea estate. 

Vintage 1950's hat display

Till next time,

Miss Apollo

xx

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