Ladies in Black

This is a delightfully light & entertaining yet accurate & dark portrayal of Australia's behaviour to post war immigrants & women seeking financial independence through work.

Set in the early 1960's there are glorious vintage gowns, heritage facades & stylish cars to create a delicious backdrop.

Although filmed elsewhere.. ( regional VIC?) I could have sworn it was filmed in Sydney's iconic Elizabeth Street store.

I remember the piano playing as you entered and took the escalator up to the temple of fashion with its gorgeous gowns kept safely out of reach of young girls greedy eyes & suspected sticky fingers.

As the story of each woman unfolds, we witness the past gender power imbalance & snobbery that was commonplace at the time while being gently soothed by fabulous dresses, hair & makeup.

The fashions may have changed but the memories & bad behaviour sadly linger. I am reminded to be grateful to those who cut a path before me & that everything and nothing changes when it comes to relationships.

I've been watching the Australian series Ladies in Black, and I have to say - I rather enjoy it. It's light, easy to watch, and has a certain charm that's hard to resist. Even though the music and costumes aren't exactly authentic to the time period, I didn't really mind. There's a warmth to it - in the characters, the setting, and the way it captures that postwar moment of change - that makes it enjoyable.

It doesn't try too hard, and that's part of its appeal. Sometimes it's just nice to watch something that doesn't feel heavy or overly stylised, but still has heart. If you're after something gentle with a touch of vintage flair, this one's a lovely choice.

Perhaps I wanted more from this series than it could deliver, perhaps I wanted the film to continue into the TV series, whatever, but this just misses, at every possible mark.

The layout of the store doesn't make me believe in it; The re-imagination of the characters doesn't make me believe in them.

The appalling continuity errors in the first episode made me not believe in it.

I tried, seriously I did. I got through episode 1, I got 8 minutes into episode 2 and just went: "I can't do this". Go right ahead and try and make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. It'll still be a sow's ear, and that's what this show is.

Do yourself the favour. Miss it. Go back and watch the film.

If you haven't watched the movie then you will love this series. This shouldn't be compared to the other versions. It should be reviewed based on its standalone story.

Loved this show, it was entertaining and light but still left me with food for thought in terms of culture and how it changes. I do wish there had been even more visuals of the fashions of that time period, just the gowns wasn't enough for me. Music in the series was from a mix of different eras, however, still managed to capture the right mood for the moments.

The acting all around was great and Miranda Otto took the cake.

I really hope they do a follow up season introducing some new characters and stories to get behind.

This is a period piece if you don't like period pieces you will hate it. This drama is set at the beginning of the 60s and you can see the mind set in many of these people. This shows how minds are being changed from very narrow to more worldly. If you liked other period pieces from down under you will like this series. It reminds me of the "The Doctor Blake Mysteries" series in many ways. The language and mannerisms are well done and the "Sexual" problems are well dealt with. A pushy supervisor is dealt with as a simple firing when today they would be arrested and a large settlement would happen. All in all not a bad piece and the next "year" should be better.