The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham

A quarter of the way through The Dressmarker by Rosalie Ham, I was reminded of a scene in Sex in the City. Carrie is dating Aleksandr Petrovsky, the pompous artist who whisks her away to Paris in the final series. He reads her some Russian poetry (Joseph Brodsky) and in true “city-girl” fashion Carrie responds by reading an article in Vogue…

“Oscar de La Renta sleeveless silk full skirted dress with black patent leather bow belt.”

“Now that”, she finishes “is pure poetry…”

In The Dressmaker Rosalie Ham supplies poetry for the fashion-magazine reader who also likes some scandalous gossip on the side. The pages swish through “frosty-ice green tulle skirt[s]”, “magenta silk organza” Dior copies and my particular favourite “a white silk satin jumpsuit with frock printed roses”. The chapters are labelled with matching fabrics: “Felt”, “Shantung”, “Brocade” and even the landscapes “curve” and lean “provocatively”.

The story, as opposed Sex and the City’s glamorised Big Apple setting, takes place in set in rural Australia, in the small town Dungatar. 

Myrtle Dunnage, a young woman, returns to the town after being forced to leave when she was ten. Tilly, as Myrtle is now known by, has come back to look over her frail mother, the town outcast. While fending off busybodies and gossips Tilly wows the locals with her dressmaking skills.

The book is the perfect glossy mag. Rumour and dirty laundry laid up next to a description of a designer copy – available at an affordable price.

Although it sometimes feels like the plot hemlines are unfinished and the details are not up to scratch, the story is what it should be, just a bit of harmless fun and escapism.