In Fabric Review; Looking Dead Good in That Killer Dress

In a film directed and written by Peter Strickland, a cursed blood red dress is passed from owner to owner, touching the lives of several individuals with sinister consequences.

The film first focuses on divorced Mother of one, Sheila (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) who, after watching a hypnotic and bewitching commercial for department store, Dentley & Soper, enters the store looking for a dress to wear on a date. She is welcomed by mysterious saleswoman, Miss Luckmore (Fatma Mohamed), whose creepy syntax and calm demeanor, sweet-talks Sheila into purchasing the killer dress; a purchase that will soon become a nightmare for Sheila and all who wear it.

The film certainly focuses on the ritual of consumerism, and the story of clothes; especially on where they've been and where they are going; and paired with music from Cavern of Anti-Matter, sucks the viewer into an hypnotic and trance-like state. The wacky and fragmentary style of the film is like that of David Lynch, in which the otherworldly, sexual and disorientating scenes creates a distinctive experience that stays with the viewer long after the end credits have rolled. The amplified sounds of whispers, screeching, breathing and scissors tearing through paper, creates a sensual and ASMR experience, along with the constant sea of red shades throughout the film. The red dress, accompanied by polished red fingernails, lipstick and various objects, creates erotic colouring symbolizing desire, lust and passion; transporting the viewer into not only a world of horror, but a world whereupon pleasure and sex is around every corner.

Miss Luckmore, along with her group of saleswomen, encourages shopper's into entering the store, and after the store closes, partakes in an erotic ritual with the mannequins. The ritual, although sexual, seemingly highlights the respect the cult-like band of saleswomen have for the human body. The personification of the mannequin also represents a customer's desire to be attractive and stylish, emphasizing the social norms of women whereupon the mannequin represents everything that society deems a woman to look; both physically and materially. Miss Luckmore is also exposed as being bald after removing her elegant wig, and in an eerie similarity, finds herself looking distinctly like the mannequins within the store.
Could it be that we are all mannequins just looking for our perfect outfit?

In a film that is compelling, brazen and hypnotic, it touches upon mass consumerism in a hilarious and dark way, whilst also telling the story of our clothes and the hypnotic allure of commercials. With a ceremonial end, it is a film that is both creepy and weird, but utterly inescapable.