For anyone lucky enough to get their hands on an original copy of an Alfred Hitchcock script, precise directions can be read scribbled across nearly every page. "Every costume was indicated when he sent me the finished script," remembers friend and costume designer Edith Head. "There was a reason for every color, every style, and he was absolutely certain about everything he settled on... he was really putting a dream together in the studio." The subtle details were the ones most important for Hitchcock as one of Hollywood's iconic directors. Hailing from across the pond, the filmmaker made a name for himself as the Master of Suspense, regarded for his thrilling and psychologically complex stories.

Creating a visual sensation was important for the director. He notably achieved this through his use of mise-en-scéne, which was revolutionary for the subconscious effects it had on the viewer. Everything from the camera angle to mood-shifting color was a carefully orchestrated plan. To Hitchcock, nothing was an accident. He had a specific vision for how to tell his stories often, both literally and figuratively, immersing himself into his work with around 39 hidden egg cameos across his 52 films. Though hiding in plain sight in every Hitchcock movie is the presence of an ultra-stylish female character with an icy demeanor: the Hitchcock Heroine.

It wasn't always this way, and, in fact, Hitchcock’s vision of a powerfully seductive leading lady in his films was quite different from the stories told by chilling films before him, which conventionally portrayed women as damsels in distress. In the early days of silent film, we'd see Dracula preying on the necks of young girls or the villainous Koerner tying the title character to the railroad tracks in The Perils of Pauline. Hitchcock’s recipe for a female character was far more dynamic and realistically thrilling. The role was oft played by Hollywood’s biggest and blondest starlets like Grace Kelly and Tippi Hedrin soon nicknamed the "Hitchcock Blondes."

As a means of storytelling, Hitchcock understood that physical elements were greatly important when portraying a character, particularly their dress. In those days, costumes were one thing, but the style was completely different. Tailored suits with nipped waists and classic couture-inspired gowns painted the image of the enigmatic Hitchcockian woman. The sharp silhouettes that Hitchcock preferred were signs of the time and often drew upon the latest fashions from Paris. Many of the costume designs for his films were inspired by Parisian couture fashions, in fact Marlene Dietrich famously requested couturier Christian Dior to be her costume designer in the 1950 film Stage Fright. One of Hollywood's greatest divas, the actress was quoted bargaining with Hitchcock saying “no Dior, no Dietrich.”

Throughout the course of his career in film, Hitchcock worked with several costume designers, but most predominantly with Head. Their collaboration proved to be a match made in heaven, and the two went on to work on over 11 films together. Perhaps one of Head’s greatest early works alongside Hitchcock was on the 1954 film Rear Window, which starred Kelly as the fashionable socialite Lisa Fremont, who opted to display herself through her clothes, saying “if there’s one thing I know, it’s how to wear the proper clothes.” Hitchcock’s vision of Fremont as a fashion maven had to do with the film's overall theme of voyeurism and the idea of being admired and watched because of what one was wearing.

Head designed a series of couture-style gowns for Kelly’s character that featured billowing ballerina skirts and raw silk suits à la Cristóbal Balenciaga. The pieces were representative of the influence of French couture in post-war America following the invention of Dior’s “New Look,” where waists were minimized and skirts were maximized.

In 1958, Head and Hitchcock continued their collaboration with Vertigo, a film about obsession and identity, starring Kim Novak as Madeleine Elster. It’s said that Hitchcock had the idea for the exact color of a suit in mind for Novak’s character before they even started filming. The gray skirt suit with black pumps combo imagined by Head was inspired to play off the ghostly color of the San Francisco fog in which they shot the film. (In Hitchcock’s direction “the girl [was to] look as if she’s just drifted out of the San Francisco fog.”) Initially, Novak didn’t want to wear the suit, claiming it was difficult to move in. But the quality eventually helped her visually seem more uncomfortable in portraying her character. Despite her difficulties with Hitchcock, Novak recalled she “never worked with a director who cared so much about costumes." The suit went on to become one of the most iconic looks onscreen.

Hitchcock's influence on fashion through film is evident in how the costumes have remained iconic moments of cinematic history for so many years. Over time, the looks have been borrowed by designers as inspiration for their collections. L'enfant terrible Alexander McQueen notably based several of his collections after the dark horror of Hitchcock's films. The designer's love of birds (even owning a few pet falcons himself) led him to reference the 1963 film The Birds for his Spring/Summer 1995 collection by the same name. Later, his Autumn/Winter 2005 show included various classically Hitchcock styles of muted colors and timeless '50s tailoring. While nearly a decade later, Prada's Autumn/Winter 2013 show created the perfect wardrobe for a murder mystery featuring tons of mink stoles and dramatic suiting.

SOURCE: CR Fashion Book

ARTICLE: The Spectacle of Hitchcock's Heroine Fashion