Heck yeah!
If you want a synopsis of this film, visit IMDB. For me, there were a few scenes that were the most memorable.
Tilley, the protagonist – the dressmaker creating works of fashion art in a hick Australian outback town, helps a young woman named Gertie in time for a party. Gertie begins as an ordinary girl, dull braid with half of its haggard strands weighing down her cheeks. A plain face. After Tilley is done with her, Gertie enters the party with a full blown makeover and a heart-stopping dress. Of course, Gertie originally pursued Tilly’s fashion makeover to garner attention from a man she fancies (yes, I am unashamedly using the word fancies – imagine my words 1950ies tinted). And what attention she receives! From more than just the man in question. Even my husband watching the film with me didn’t realize that the woman entering was in fact plain Gertie.
However, it’s not the open-mouthed stares from others that I paid attention to: it was the moments leading up to them. In those moments, there was more than a dreadful inferiority complex overshadowed by hope and desperation in Gertie’s gait, lips, and eyes as she entered the party.
It was pure, unadulterated pleasure.
The misguided notion of modesty. That women cannot dress feminine and sexy for any other reason than to garner attention from a boy and there in doing so, willfully tempt them! It is more than attention. It is self-admiration! A woman is not solely concerned with how others see her. But with how she feels.
Naturally, after this occurrence, more and more women flocked to Tilly for new creations to update and enhance their lackluster wardrobes. Married and single alike.
There is another memorable scene with Gertie. When she tries out the typical town dressmaker for her wedding gown. A hideous, impractical wedding gown with puffed sleeves that could put the little mermaid’s to shame! Something out of an eighties horror flick. Before William can even enter, before any man can enter the room, Gertie is already petrified at how she looks. Why? Because she recognizes how she looks and in turn, it makes her feel terrible. What does she do? Run straight in the direction of someone who makes her feel beautiful. And that someone is a woman.
And when Tilly responds to the emergency situation and helps her into a pre-prepared dress, Gertie emerges from the house to all the spectators arrayed in a gorgeous, form fitting ensemble that doesn’t just hug her curves, it fondles them. And with this buxom bosom flirting with the air, Gertie announces to all the spectators, including her future husband and more importantly to her former town dressmaker that she will be going with Tilly. “I think she understands my particular body shape.”
So, here’s to the moms who put on red lipstick in the middle of a Monday afternoon with children throwing temper tantrums in the background. Here’s to the single ladies who wake up with a hangover from clubbing the night before and go through the painstaking process of taking a shower, brushing their teeth, and applying makeup to mask those bloodshot eyes whether for work or for staying at home in their pajamas. Here’s to the young teenage girls smart beyond their years though not necessarily wise, who spend two hours trying on dress after dress at a second-hand shop or at a department store or high-end boutique.
You are all beautiful, but more importantly…you have the RIGHT to feel beautiful!