There’s a cinematic mood in the air for fashion this season.
The precise sartorial elegance of the iconic Edith Head Hitchcock heroine – Grace Kelly in Rear Window, Kim Novak in Vertigo, Tippi Hedren in The Birds – seems to have haunted the mood boards and the imaginations of many a designer.
On the AW25 runway for Gucci, slinky lace-trimmed pencil skirts and headscarves, worn with shearling jackets, nodded to Tippi Hedren as Melanie Daniels in The Birds.
And who could have looked at Sabrina Carpenter, outfitted in a little grey skirt suit (one of the first glimpses of JW Anderson’s vision for Dior woman’s collection), without recalling Kim Novak’s famous grey costume in Vertigo?
Nor are accessory designers immune.
Luxury shoe label Malone Souliers’s AW25 collection was inspired by Hitchcock screen heroines.
“We were drawn to Hitchcock’s femme fatales because they are the perfect balance between elegance and edge – they are polished but dangerous, never predictable,” says the co-creative directors Coco Fong and Valerio Bava. The brands “Cristi” mule and “Valeria” sling backs look perfectly on point.
Hitchcock to high street
The good news is that the ladylike look has worked its way to moderately priced brands too. In fact, an Air Yarn short sleeved cardigan at M&S will give you a touch of Kelly elegance for a mere £26.
But how to channel the look in real-life, particularly for a mid-lifer like me, without looking old-fashioned?