Hitchcock Style

While it's often hard to equate the legendary rotund British director-auteur-master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock with the word style, his films certainly gave us some great moments in fashion, glamour and interiors.

His penchant for sophisticated blondes is the stuff of legends -- from the tortured Tippi Hedren in The Birds (1958) and Marnie (1961) , Kim Novak in Vertigo (1958) and The Wrong Man (1956) and Doris Day in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) to Grace Kelly in Rear Window (1954) , Dial M for Murder (1954)  and To Catch a Thief (1955), Janet Leigh in Psycho (1960) and Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest (1959) -- icy, cold, unattainable, chic and often heroines turned victims, he never met a blonde he didn't like. (One can look at  Suzanne Pleshette's fate in The Birds to see how brunettes fared).

Sean Connery and Tippi Hedren on the set of Marnie

Kim Novak in Vertigo who Hitch wanted to turn into "the new Grace Kelly"

Cary Grant and Grace Kelly in Edith Head's designs  for the film To Catch a Thief

Que Sera Sera: Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day in The Man Who Knew too Much

Grace Kelly on set

Whether hero or cad or a combination thereof, Hitch liked his male characters handsome, dapper, and above all, well dressed.

Sean Connery takes a break in between Bond films to star in Marnie

Nothing says south of France like an Ascot in the fifties

Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief

The woman responsible for it all was Academy Award winning costume designer Edith Head who designed everything from Tippi's shredded suit in The Birds to Grace Kelly's memorable black and white cocktail dress in Rear Window. More on Ms. Head's contributions in a future post.

From Jimmy Stewart's studio apartment  in Rear Window, Norman Bates house to Rebecca's Manderlay, a Hitch set is designed for suspense, anxiety, action and danger.

The Psycho House on the Universal backlot

His set for the film Rope (1948) was ultra modern and would fit in with today's standards. With its panoramic windows, the Manhattan penthouse apartment was completely designed for city viewing  and the leather sofa  is custom made to fit the entire length of the windows. In a classic Hitch move, look for his profile on one of the illuminated signs.

Hitch with the cast of Rope

James Mason as Phillip Vandamm  in a Long Island for North by Northwest

Even Hitch's symbolism is stylish. The film Vertigo is of course, based on images of a swirl design. We see it in the various motifs... Jimmy Stewart/Scott McKittreck's office,         

the famous bell tower...

Movie Poster for Vertigo

and even Kim Novak's classic french twist has a swirl...

Hitch on set with a sense of humor

For the DEFINITIVE book on the subject, read French film critic Jean-Pierre Dufreigne's book Hitchcock Style by Assouline, 2004. A must have for any Hitchcock fanatic.

Photo Credits: Hitchcock Style, Assouline, 2004.

A Style is Born: William Haines, Star Turned Designer

"Design is an opinion, not a profession." -- William Haines

The silver screen's loss in the thirties was the interior design industry's gain.

The year was 1930 and a young William "Billy" Haines was the country's top box office attraction and on contract with powerhouse Metro Goldwyn Mayer. He excelled as the attractive and athletic All American “smart alec” character (he was often coined the "wisecracker") and enjoyed leading man status to starlets such as Carole Lombard, Marion Davies, Constance Bennett and Joan Crawford who would become a lifelong friend and client for over fifty years.

Haines with his long time friend Joan Crawford

While films such as Tell it to the Marines, Show People and Brown of Harvard made him a popular actor, he found his true calling when he opened an antique store on Hollywood’s La Brea Avenue. Frequented by fellow co-stars and gossip columnist du jour Hedda Hopper, his innate style and passion for collecting did not go unnoticed and soon a decorator was born.


Joan Crawford became one of his very first clients (they starred together in three films at Metro) and he designed her Brentwood home through three divorces that represented special design challenges. “Cranberry” (as he affectionately called her) had a collection of over two hundred dolls and black velvet prints of dancing women that had to be gingerly disposed of. He also decorated the Manhattan penthouse she shared with husband and Pepsi President Alfred Steele. The 1800 square foot apartment was so luxe he nicknamed it “Taj Joan”.

Joan Crawford at home

Self taught as a decorator, Haines offered an alternative to the fashionable art deco interiors (made ever trendier by the films of the day) and virtually lifted the dark somber Spanish and Tudor bungalows into the sunlight, giving birth to the California style we know today.

Carole Lombard at home

The look became known as Hollywood Regency and represented a contrast to the decade’s stark minimal looks found in the modernist movement. With its roots in nineteenth century England, the style combined English, French Regency and Greek Revival with the grandeur and glamour of Old Hollywood. 

Haines at home

The centerpieces of a Haines interior are his custom collections. His iconic collection includes the biscuit tufted sofa, the popular perennial Seriah chair (Haines spelled backwards) and the charming Elbow chair (a smaller scale slipper chair which allows a woman in a ball gown to sit sideways!) Other Haines hallmarks included touches of Chinoiserie, museum mount lamps with objet d'art, one of kind lamps for each client and his use of distressed leather table surfaces.

Elbow Chair

Touches of Chinoiserie

Pedestal Floor Lamp

Before his death in l973, Haines passed the baton to associate Ted Graber who designed one of the firm's most important commissions, the private White House residence of Ronald and Nancy Reagan.

His legacy thankfully continues today through the efforts of designers Peter Schifando and J. Jonathon Josephs. Schifando (former associate of Graber) and Jean H. Mathison (former long time assistant to both Haines and Graber) wrote the visually stunning chronicle on the life and designs of Haines in  Class Act: Williams Haines, Legendary Hollywood Decorator (Pointed Leaf Press, 2005).



The firm boasts an archive of over two thousand original drawings plans and finishes from the collection. They have also reissued his furnishings using the same manufacturer of the past fifty years. Their Brentwood, Hostess and Elbow chairs remain some of the firm’s most popular items.

Brentwood Chair

Seniah Chair

Lobby of Beverly Hilton Hotel

For more on the William Haines collection, see their website www.williamhaines.com

Photo Credits: William Haines Designs, Margaret Herrick Library

Portions reprinted from A Style is Born, Traditional Home, June 2007 by Cathy Whitlock

Note: A special thanks to Heather Clawson of Habitually Chic for her post on my upcoming book re-de-sign: New Directions For Your Interior Design Career.

Italian Cinema Style: Part Three - It's All About the Vespa

Almost every Italian film has one sighting in common -- a glamorous couple winding through the countryside or the cobblestone streets on a Vespa. A shortage of parking in Italy made them a necessity and what better way to run around town than on this chic and sleek little scooter? While I am not sure why it's called a Vespa (which is Italian for wasp), I know of at least four people in my zip code have one and one day I hope to be number five.

Apparently 10,000 Vespas were sold in Italy after Roman Holiday (1953) made it famous....

while Diane Lane as Frances Mayes catches a lift from the local politzia in Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)...

 and Jude Law as Dickie Greenleaf scoots through a coastal town in The Talented Mr. Ripley 
(1999).


And if you are really interested, visit the Piaggio Museum near Pisa, Italy where the Vespa is manufactured. Supposedly there is a Salvador Dali one. Or visit the Vespa website for your local dealer. About three thousand should do it give or take.

Shot below the title is none other than Suzanne Pleshette and Troy Donahue in Rome Adventure (1962).

Photo Credits: Miramax, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Touchstone Pictures and  Vespa Boutique.

Italian Cinema Style Part Two: Travelogue

What better backdrop than Italy? From the Tuscan hills to the Spanish Steps to the Mediterranean waters of the Amalfi Coast, it's no wonder filmmakers leave Hollywood to shoot on location. 

The following films are pure travelogue, offering an armchair view of the most beautiful country on the planet. Here are a few classics....

American audiences are introduced to Audrey Hepburn who plays a runaway princess in Roman Holiday (1953) with Gregory Peck as her journalist/accomplice. Iconic sights include the Mouth of Truth (a face carved in stone which is said to cut the hands off of liars -- go figure), the Colisseum, the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and the Piazza del Pantheon. The film was shot in black and white as not to upstage the sights of Rome. 

Roman Holiday also has the distinction of being the first American film shot in Italy. And not only did Hepburn get to keep all her costumes from the film, she won Best Actress that year as well. Imagine what a different film it would have been if they'd originally cast Cary Grant and Jean Simmons.

Roman Holiday (1953) 

The infamous scene at the Mouth of Truth was copied years later in another romantic comedy Only You (1994) with Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jr. They even look like a modern day Hepburn and Peck.

The magnificent staircase skyline of the Amalfi Coast has been the landscape for many a film. Only You, Under the Tuscan Sun and The Talented Mr. Ripley are a few productions to utilize the popular beach towns of the Mediterranean.

Amalfi Coast

Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

Cortona, Arrezo, Florence, Positano and Rome were natural locales for Under the Tuscan Sun. Viewers might recognize Montepulciano where the wedding took place, Cortona where the Mayes character purchased her farmhouse and the shoreline of Positano where she is courted by her Italian friend.

Tuscan Hillside

Sun's garden wedding

Clifton Webb courts Dorothy McGuire in various settings of Rome and Venice -- most importantly the Trevi Fountain -- in  Three Coins in the Fountain (1954). (Try getting that theme song out of your head!)

The exotic locales of Positano, Siena, Venice and Rome take center stage in the romantic comedy of soul mates who meet and eventually fall in love in Only You (1994).

Only You Film Poster 

Le Sirenuse Hotel, Positano

Le Sirenuse hotel was used for the scenes in Positano. A must stay if you ever visit by the way. Breathtaking views from the pool and the old world lobby are worth the visit alone.

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) is probably the most picturesque of the films made in Italy. Rome, Positano, Naples and Venice are beautifully captured and viewers will recognize Venice's famed Caffe Florian and the Hotel Europa, Rome's Le Grand Hotel and the Via Condotti.

Cate Blanchett as Marge and Matt Damon as Tom Ripley at the Spanish Steps

 in The Talented Mr. Ripley 

Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Freddie Miles makes his grand entrance

La Dolce Vita (1960) celebrates the decadence of society in sixties Italy among numerous nightclubs and the Via Veneto. The infamous Trevi fountain scene with Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroanni is a film classic and recreated in Under the Tuscan Sun...proving once again imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroanni in the Trevi Fountain

in La Dolce Vita

Other Italian films of note are Il Postino, A Room With a View, My House in Umbria, Rome Adventure, 8 1/2, Godfather One and Three and The English Patient. 

And of course, anything Lina Wertmuller or Fellini.

P.S. Writer (and ex-Los Angelino now living in Rome) Joie Davidow's website In Rome Now: beyond the guidebooks is a fabulous and unique insider's guide to everything from arts and culture to weekend getaways. Also catch her book I Wouldn't Leave Rome for Heaven -- it's the story of three expats and their adventures. Wonderful!

Photo Credits: Margaret Herrick Library, Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Le Sirenuse Hotel, Touchstone Pictures, Pathe-Consortium Cinema, Twentieth Century Fox, Miramax.