Tippi Hedren The Birds - Her Classy 1960s Fashion
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Tippi Hedren The Birds wears classic 1960s fashion in the 1963 Hitchcock classic The Birds (1963).
One of the so-called “Hitchcock Blondes,” Tippi Hedren also starred in another Hitchcock movie: Marnie, opposite Sean Connery.
Other Hitchcock Blondes include Kim Novak, Eva Marie Saint, Doris Day, Janet Leigh, and of course, Grace Kelly.
This post is all about Tippi Hedren The Birds
The Birds Movie Synopsis
In The Birds, Tippi Hedren’s character Melanie Daniels meets Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) at a bird shop.
She follows him out to his house in Bodega Bay to leave him the love birds as prank. Once there, birds of all kinds begin attacking the local townsfolk.
The storyline is loosely based on the novel by Daphne Du Maurier.
Tippi Hedren wearing a black suit in the opening scene of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963)
Birds beginning to act strangely in the first scene of The Birds (1963)
Tippi Hedren The Birds Fashion
Once again, Alfred Hitchcock teamed up with Edith Head to create Melanie’s classic wardrobe for The Birds.
Other movies that Edith Head collaborated on with Hitchcock include Kim Novak’s wardrobe in Vertigo, Grace Kelly’s wardrobe in Rear Window and To Catch A Thief, Ingrid Bergman’s wardrobe in Notorious, Tippi Hedren’s wardrobe in Marnie and more!
Tippi Hedren’s character Melanie chats to Rod Taylor in The Birds (1963)
Tippi Hedren The Birds Black Suit
In the opening scene of The Birds, Tippi Hedren’s character Melanie is wearing a charcoal black suit over a white blouse.
She meets a dashing man in a bird shop (Rod Taylor) and while they get into an argument, she likes him enough to look up his address in order to bring him two love birds as a prank. (yes, this movie is all about birds!)
After Rod Taylor’s character Mitch leaves the shop, Melanie is annoyed, but apparently liked Mitch enough to run after him and write down his license plate number which she uses in order to find out where he lives.
Slightly creepy!
Tippi Hedren The Birds Green Suit with Fur Coat
Tippi Hedren’s character Melanie takes two lovebirds in a cage to Mitch’s flat in San Francisco.
While there, a neighbor tells her that Mitch goes up the coast to Bodega Bay every weekend.
To drop off the birds, Melanie is glammed up in a green suit (which we’ll see a lot of!) topped with a fur coat, jewelry and a scarf.
Tippi Hedren The Birds Car
Hitchcock sure used some classy cars in his films, and The Birds is no exception.
Tippi Hedren drives an Aston Martin up to Bodega Bay to gift the love birds to Rod Taylor’s character Mitch.
Since it’s a convertible, she conveniently uses the scarf she had around her neck to tie around her hair.
She manages to reach her destination without a strand out of place.
After arriving at Bodega Bay, she manages to find out where Mitch lives (again!).
She takes a boat to his house, lets herself in, and leaves the two lovebirds there.
The close-up of Melanie’s brown heels as she drives her Aston Martin in The Birds (1963) is a nice touch.
Tippi Hedren in The Birds (top) and Grace Kelly in Rear Window, (below) both in suits designed by Edith Head.
Tippi Hedren The Birds Green Suit
Mitch catches Melanie after she leaves the love birds and convinces her to stay for dinner.
Despite his mother’s evil glances (Hitchcock has a lot of jealous mothers in his films!) she agrees.
As she ends up staying in Bodega Bay and didn’t pack any clothes, the green suit she was wearing beneath the fur coat is the last outfit we see for the remainder of the movie.
The green looks remarkably like the green suit that Edith Head also designed for Grace Kelly in Rear Window.
Who wore it better?
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Full shot of Melanie’s green suit. Classic 1960s.
Tippi Hedren removes her coat in The Birds (1963) as she’s playing the piano for Mitch’s sister.
The Bird attacks haven’t gotten too serious at this point, and Tippi Hedren’s character Melanie is still looking glamorous as she smokes a cigarette.
She does a lot of smoking in this movie!
Tippi Hedren The Birds Attic Scene
The green suit really gets put through its paces in the dramatic climax of the movie where the birds have started attacking.
Despite the house being boarded up, the birds manage to get inside one of the rooms in the house.
For some reason Melanie decides it’s a good idea to go inside a room where she can hear noises and is viciously attacked by a flock of birds that had gotten into the room.
According to The Art of Alfred Hitchcock by Donald Spoto, in order to film the 2 minute attic scene where Melanie is attacked by the birds, Tippi Hedren endured a week of live birds being thrown at her, for what she called “the worst week of my life.”
Apparently live birds were brought in after mechanical birds weren’t deemed to be realistic looking enough.
Luckily, Mitch is able to drag Melanie out of the room at the last minute.
During a brief lull, or have the birds suddenly stopped attacking? He drives them all to safety in Melanie’s stylish car.
The movie ends suddenly, with everyone left wondering why the birds attacked in the first place.
This post was all about Tippi Hedren The Birds
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