Story of a Dress: “Rear Window”
Updated: Jan 21
Grace Kelly's entrance dress in the 1954 Alfred Hitchcock classic remains a beloved (and copied) costume.
Amid the 11 films in her brief Hollywood career, Grace Kelly starred in five movies that were released in 1954 alone — an incredible statistic by today's standards, especially as most of them remain favorites among film fans today (more on that "most" in a moment). But if you asked Edith Head, who designed Kelly's costumes for three of those 1954 releases, she was only happy to discuss one of them.
When film fans think of Grace Kelly's onscreen persona, chances are they envision scenes from the decidedly glamorous roles that easily can be associated with the woman who would depart her career in 1956 to become the Princess of Monaco, marrying Prince Rainier III in April of that year. Is it any wonder, then, that it's so easy to equate Kelly's personal life with the stylish sophisticates she played in 1955's To Catch a Thief or 1956's High Society? In both films, Kelly's character was gorgeous, aloof and incredibly glamorous. But when did that image first spring to life in the eyes of moviegoers? In 1954's Rear Window.
Kelly was still in the early stages of her career when Alfred Hitchcock cast her in Dial M for Murder, which was released in May 1954. Style-wise, the only terrific costume in that film is the red lace dress and matching bolero jacket Kelly wears in the opening scene; designed by Moss Mabry, it communicates a fitting "lady in red" message as the audience quickly discovers Kelly's Margot has been cheating on her husband, played by a scheming Ray Milland, with the novelist Mark Halliday, played by Robert Cummings. Without giving too much away, after that fab dress and an elegant negligee worn soon after, Margot's wardrobe becomes rather dour for the remainder of the film.
Indeed, "dour" is also a terrific adjective to explain Kelly's costumes in The Country Girl, the film that won her the 1955 best actress Academy Award for her portrayal as Georgie, the put-upon wife of an entertainer struggling with alcoholism amid a comeback. (Bing Crosby likewise was nominated for his role as the entertainer, but he was bested that year by Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront.) Kelly's role called for her wardrobe, designed by Head, to match her character's status and mood; in other words, decidedly un-glamorous.
In her posthumous autobiography, Edith Head's Hollywood, the costume designer recalled her early reaction to the script: "She was to play a woman who had been married for years and had lost interest in clothes, herself — everything," Head wrote. "The character had absolutely no resemblance to Grace Kelly. I put her in housedresses and skirts and blouses, and made her look frumpy."
Understandably, Kelly wasn't thrilled when she first saw the looks designed for her character in The Country Girl. "I used my best psychiatrist voice and said, 'Grace, I didn't think we could do it, but you look truly depressed,'" Head wrote. "She understood, from my words and manner, that she looked right for the part, so she stopped worrying about her appearance and concentrated on her acting." The designer's recollection may subtly imply that she accepted partial credit for Kelly's Academy Award win, but we also know enough about how costumes inform a character to surmise that perhaps the dowdy quality of Georgie's clothes indeed inspired the actress wearing them.
Prior to Dial M for Murder, Kelly's most high-profile roles were in 1952's High Noon as the prim bride of Gary Cooper's Marshal Will Kane and in 1953's Mogambo as the wife of a staid anthropologist who finds herself charmed by the professional hunter played by Clark Gable. Neither role, in 1870 period dress or middle-class daywear with safari-esque touches, presented Kelly as a fashion plate, but less than a year after Mogambo, her burgeoning status as a style icon would become unmistakable to movie audiences.
Also in 1954, journalist Pete Martin wrote an extensive profile of Kelly, titled "The Luckiest Girl in Hollywood," and during his research process, he was told by several sources that an interview with Alfred Hitchcock was a must. The famed director did not disappoint with his assessment of the star he would direct twice that year, and later once again for 1955's To Catch a Thief. "Everybody wants a new leading lady, but there aren't many of them around," Hitchcock told Martin, whose story appeared in the October 30, 1954 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. "There are a lot of leading women; not enough leading and I quote, 'ladies,' unquote. An act like Grace, who's also a lady, gives a director certain advantages. He can afford to be more colorful with a love scene played by a lady than with one played by a hussy ... [with] a hussy, such a scene can be vulgar. But if you put a lady in the same circumstances, she's exciting and glamorous."
That final sentence perfectly describes both Kelly and her Rear Window character, Lisa Fremont. Head recalled being thrilled by the director's instructions to her for Kelly's costumes: "Hitchcock told me it was important that Grace's clothes help to establish some of the conflict in the story," she recalled in Edith Head's Hollywood. "She was to be the typical sophisticated society-girl magazine editor who falls in love with a scruffy photographer, Jimmy Stewart. He's insecure and thinks that she thinks he isn't good enough for her. Hitch wanted her to look like a piece of Dresden china, something slightly untouchable."
In addition to what Head called "impeccably tailored" suits and accessories that "looked as though they couldn't be worn by anyone else but her," the designer knew that Kelly's first look in the film — which almost completely takes place within the confines of the photographer's bachelor-focused apartment — needed to instantly establish her character's social and style status. "Since all the action took place in one room, everything that happened within that room had to have impact," Head explained. "Grace's clothes often provided that impact. The clothes also helped advance the narrative."
Few film costumes have enjoyed the showcase that happens with Kelly's entrance dress in Rear Window. Head's design is built into the scene between Lisa and Stewart's L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries and immediately communicates insights into Kelly's chic character:
Jeff: "Is this the Lisa Fremont who never wears the same dress twice?" Lisa: "Only because it's expected of her. It's right off the Paris plane. You think it'll sell?"
Jeff: "Well, that depends on the quote. Let's see, now, there's the airplane ticket over, and import duties, hidden taxes, profit markup ..."
Lisa: "A steal at $1,100."
Jeff: "$1,100? They oughta list that dress on the stock exchange."
Lisa: "Why, we sell a dozen a day in this price range."
Jeff: "Who buys 'em, tax collectors?"
Head knew this first look at Lisa Fremont was vital to communicating both the character and how beautifully Kelly embodied her, while the designer also proved she was always thinking about practical considerations. "The black-and-white dress I used in the first love scene had a simple neckline, which framed her face in close-ups," Head wrote. "Then, as the camera pulled back, the beaded chiffon skirt immediately told the audience she was a rich girl." (As a side note, costume fans often have debated whether the black of the bodice was actually a deep navy — likely the confusion arose from lighting and film stock — but Edith called the dress "black and white," ending all arguments.)
The accessories also were carefully chosen, particularly the gloves, Head's nod to a detail Kelly preferred — that's why Lisa Fremont enters Jeff's apartment wearing gloves in almost all of her scenes. But it's the first dress that most Rear Window fans remember, overall a seemingly simple design: a black off-the-shoulder bodice paired with a white chiffon A-line skirt that exuded froth and movement due to its multiple layers and was accented with cascades of delicate vine beading falling from the belted waist. Perhaps it is precisely the dress's simplicity, worn by a woman who carried it off effortlessly, that makes the look so memorable.
Then again, all of Head's costumes for Kelly in Rear Window are memorable, from the peignoir set she wears after scandalously announcing she is staying the night in Jeff's apartment (a fact she revealed to him while showing off her stylish Mark Cross overnight case) to the pale green suit she wears after a day in the office, which includes the surprise of a high-neck halter blouse under the jacket, highlighting an open back that was surely no accident on Head's part. A black cocktail dress with sheer cap sleeves (seen at right) once again conveys Lisa's upscale lifestyle, while a breezy floral dress Head designed is perfect to communicate that Lisa is not only loosening up a bit, she also has become a willing participant in her boyfriend's suspicions about what happened across the courtyard from his apartment building. (That latter look today is also known as "the detective dress.) By Rear Window's final scene, the ultra-chic Lisa Fremont is wearing blue jeans, a red linen shirt and penny loafers — but while Jeff naps, she surreptitiously opens a copy of Harper's Bazaar, the October 1953 "Beauty Issue," making it clear to the audience that Jeff may someday spirit the girl away from chic New York, but he'll never alter the girl's chic New York attitude.
Fold all of Head's designs together, and it's little wonder Rear Window is the film that turned Grace Kelly into a style star. More than 70 years after its debut — and almost seven decades since Kelly departed Hollywood to reign in Monaco — the black and white dress designed by Head may take the top spot as the actress's most iconic onscreen look. The ice-blue gown Kelly wears in an early scene of To Catch a Thief, or the strapless white chiffon gown she wears in a later scene to entice Cary Grant with the (fake) diamonds around her neck may vie for a close second, but neither dress, also designed by Head, enjoys the showcase of that Rear Window entrance scene.
In Edith Head's Hollywood, the costume designer noted that she became friendly with Kelly during their design and fitting sessions. "Grace was delightful to work with because she was very well-educated and we could talk about anything together — art, music, literature," Head wrote. "She enjoyed museums. She would get excited about classical music and she loved to converse with me about those kinds of things. Sometimes she would come into my salon with her lunch and the two of us would talk and laugh for hours at a time. It was always a pleasure to see her kick off her shoes and relax."
With that in mind, and while Head never publicly admitted it, it's generally agreed that she was disappointed to not be the designer chosen for Kelly's wedding gown in 1956. But Kelly was fully ensconced at MGM by that time, doing films that included Green Fire (also released in 1954 and co-starring Stewart Granger), though this story that combined romance with an emerald mine in Colombia proved disappointing to audiences and Kelly alike. Indeed, in Donald Spoto's 2010 biography High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly, he included a quote from the actress when she starred in that film: Green Fire "was not the kind of picture I became an actress to do. I had to accept it for the chance to do The Country Girl and it taught me a lesson — never agree to a role before reading a script."
When Kelly starred in High Society two years later, MGM head costume designer Helen Rose realized her own chance to dress the actress as a chic sophisticate from start to finish. Once Kelly's engagement to Prince Rainier was announced in January 1956, the MGM publicity machine kicked into high gear, making it difficult to imagine anyone but Rose would design Kelly's silk and lace wedding gown, which was crafted by 35 seamstresses in the MGM wardrobe department.
Almost three months to the day following the royal wedding in April 1956, High Society was released in the U.S.; and just one month following the wedding, MGM released The Wedding in Monaco, a 31-minute short film that details the festivities surrounding the famed nuptials. In the final scenes, Rainier and his new princess are seen boarding his yacht, the Deo Juvante II, as they depart for their honeymoon; the ensemble Kelly wore for this departure, a pale gray suit with A-line skirt and a white coat she carried, were designed by Head and presented to the star as a wedding present. (While The Wedding in Monaco unfortunately is difficult to find unedited and in its full version these days, on Amazon fans can discover a reprint of the commemorative movie poster.)
But even Kelly's wedding gown may pale in comparison to the attention the Rear Window dress receives even to this day. Ardent fans of the actress can find copies of the dress crafted by artisans on Etsy, while in 2011, Barbie designer Robert Best created a commemorative Rear Window Grace Kelly Doll as part of the brand's Gold Label collection and as a partnership with the non-profit Princess Grace Foundation, established in 1982 by Prince Rainier soon after Kelly's death following an auto accident in Monaco. Meanwhile, Kelly fans can't help but smile when purchasing the blu-ray version of The Country Girl, because which image of Kelly is used on the case? A publicity shot from Rear Window.
On the Princess Grace Foundation homepage, the leading image of Kelly also should surprise few of her fans: It's likewise from Rear Window, in the look that will forever be associated with the actress. Back in 1954, it's clear Hitchcock deeply trusted both the woman and her innate style, telling Martin that Kelly "can play comedy not only sexily but elegantly. It's a quality most women do not have. It has already taken her a long way. It may even take her to the top."
