Inspired by: The Birds, Michael Kors
Everyone seems to be going Mad Men for the fifties and sixties lately, Marc Jacobs’ Louis Vuitton collection and Miuccia Prada’s were among my favorites this past Fall. But back in 2008, even though Mad Men might have been on Michael Kors’ mind when he designed his ready-to-wear collection, it was from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963) where he got most of his inspiration. The Birds's costume designer Edith Head’s biggest challenge was making sure the actors could actually do the movie's action in the clothes. Hitchcock specified that the heroine, Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), should wear a green dress during the crows chase scene, so Head created a dress that allowed her to move as the script required her to. Edith was limited to using green and blue in Hedren’s wardrobe because Hitchcock was planning on using a lot of green in the production of this film, so she resurrected the eau de nil suit she had designed for Grace Kelly in Rear Window (1954) using a more Chanel-like structure this time.
Grace Kelly above left for Rear Window (1954) and Edith Head's illustration of the eau de nil suit above right. Tippi Hedren below left for The Birds (1963) and Head's illustration on the right.
Notice the belt, you will see a lot of it in Michael Kors' collection.
Notice the extras in the background of the following two stills, their fur accents were featured on Michael Kors' runway collection.
Below you can see Michael Kors’ inspiration in fur coats and hats.
The suits, skirts, tweed jackets, cashmere sweaters and the high-wasted belt all made their way into Kors' collection. I love the color palettes.
Beautiful work by both Edith Head and Michael Kors, as always.
The Birds (1963) Universal Pictures - Costume Designer, Edith Head | Director, Alfred Hitchcock.
Michael Kors Fall 2008 RTW Collection, photos courtesy of Style.com.
© 2011 - 2015, Louise Junker.
