After last year's paltry offerings, Horror Costuming is back in full force. Throughout October, the series will address the fantastic fashions of the undead and his bride, a monstrous metaphor born from Second-Wave Feminism, vampire chic, and more. Yet, before we get to the main courses, why not enjoy an aperitif? After all, though my writing can be protracted, even I would have trouble justifying the analysis of an entire movie's wardrobe when all that matters is one suit. I'm referring to Tippi Hedren's lovebird green dress and matching jacket from Hitchcock's The Birds, a striking look devised by the Master of Suspense's favorite designer – Edith Head…
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There's an old-fashioned elegance to Hedren's Melanie, her presentation curated to shellacked perfection. One wouldn't expect anything else from a woman so devoted to pursuing a handsome lawyer, she drives from San Francisco to his hometown of Bodega Bay with an avian present in tow. Indeed, the fabulous wool suit seems to have been selected to tie her to the gift, coordinating shoes, gloves and handbag adding a touch of class, furs and gold jewelry signals of the socialite's aspirational wealth. A woman on a mission, she stands out while preserving airs of reserve. More importantly, she stands out in the frame. Hitchcock wanted to keep Hedren in cool tones for The Birds, and Edith Head obliged, adapting an old design for Grace Kelly into a versatile verdant twist on Chanel's now-classic-then-trendy two-piece suit.
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To enhance its impact, the sets and people of Bodega Bay are styled in faded tones, browns and greys against which Melanie's green sleekness almost glows. She looks wrong, and, along with that feeling, a perversion manifests in the audience's hearts. It's that darkness lurking when you regard something too beautiful, too perfect, too much, so covetable it awakens a violent impulse for destruction. Or maybe it’s the childish cum animal impulse to mess up what’s tidy. In any case, as we observe this immaculate tailoring, the viewer starts to anticipate its degradation. When that comes, it's like an itch being scratched, complementary blood red finally smearing the 'rich girl' green, claw marks galore.
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Hedren's Melanie is our guide into The Birds' terrifying tale, and, as such, one presumes she would also be a point of identification. But, in making the blonde so impossibly chic that she looks more like an editorial than an actual person, Hitchcock and Head beckon our vicious instinct - motivated by envy or something deeper still - to bring her down – to earth, to reality, a peg perhaps. It's the intersection of morbidity and bloodlust, fear and viciousness that makes horror so entertaining in the form of a wool suit. That's what I call sickening lewk!