The Paris Seamstress

Paris-born, New York fashion legend Estella Bissette – “Mamie” to her Australian granddaughter – is still alive at 97, and the keeper of a bolt of shocking family secrets. A mistress of “duplication” in wartime Paris – a brilliant sketcher, ripping off Chanel and Schiaparelli garments for the American market – her own background is duplicitous to say the least. Lester deftly darts from Paris in 1941 to

New York; as Estella’s mother Jeanne shoves papers revealing American paternity into her daughter’s hands, so she can escape the approaching Nazi troops. Estella launches Stella Designs in New York, a trailblazer of the prêt-à-porter collections. It’s 2015 and granddaughter Fabienne is at the Met Gala to attend ailing Estella’s retrospective exhibition. She wants to wheedle some family facts out of shrewd Mamie, but finding the right moment is proving difficult. Fabienne has a fantastic job back in Sydney as a museum Fashion Curator, but a broken relationship, too. “Go to Paris to find love,” says Mamie, but will Fabienne’s famous granny last long enough to reveal the family truths?