The Dressmaker

Jocelyn Moorhouse’s The Dressmaker (2015) is a wickedly stylish blend of drama, revenge, and dark comedy that left audiences captivated and slightly scandalized. Set in the dusty Australian outback town of Dungatar, the film follows Tilly Dunnage (played by a radiant Kate Winslet), a glamorous couture dressmaker who returns to her hometown to care for her mentally ill mother and confront the ghosts of her past.

Armed with a sewing machine and Dior-level talent, Tilly transforms the local women with her designs—only to find that no amount of silk and style can mend the twisted small-town cruelty that once drove her away. The film cleverly balances high fashion with emotional reckoning, leading to a climax as fiery as Tilly’s vengeance. Winslet delivers a fierce performance, backed by a strong supporting cast including Judy Davis and Liam Hemsworth. Visually lush and tonally daring, the film walks the line between absurdity and tragedy with remarkable flair.

Yet The Dressmaker leaves audiences with questions—most notably, what becomes of Tilly after she walks away from the ashes of Dungatar?

A fictional sequel, tentatively titled The Dressmaker Returns, could be set in 1950s Paris or Milan, where Tilly reinvents herself as a celebrated but elusive fashion designer. While she achieves fame, her past refuses to stay buried. A mysterious figure from Dungatar—perhaps the child of one of her former enemies—arrives with a secret that threatens to unravel her new life. Tilly, ever composed and cunning, must navigate a world of high fashion and old grudges, where betrayal wears silk gloves and revenge comes stitched in gold thread.

This imagined sequel could preserve the original's themes of redemption, identity, and justice, while expanding the world to contrast Dungatar's dust with Europe’s glamour. With its dark wit and visual style, such a film would appeal to both fashion lovers and fans of character-driven drama.

Whether or not The Dressmaker ever gets a second act, the original stands as a bold, genre-defying film that dares to ask: Can beauty and revenge coexist? If Tilly Dunnage has anything to say about it, the answer is yes—beautifully.