Alfred Hitchcock’s women are remote, icy and extremely fashionable. In a modern twist, these icons are updated this week, in “Dial F for fashion,” into hip women who exude strength and independence.
A historic Astor Street manse in Chicago (that’s mere steps from the Ambassador East locale used in “North by Northwest”) becomes Hitchcock’s set as we view this season’s fashion sensibilities through his wholly original perspective.
The interpretation of film into fashion came easily to two Hitchcock-philes on staff-senior features editor Brenda Butler and art directors David Syrek and Joe Darrow, who often made this place feel like it was a high-stakes Trivial Pursuit game with a Hitchcock theme.
“A great part of this project was creating images from the 1940s, ’50s, ’60s and ’70s in just two days,” David says, “and also watching 16 Hitchcock movies in two weeks.”
Tribune movie critic Michael Wilmington and freelance reporter Constance C.R. White provided the context for this issue.
And as Brenda observed, “One truism was certainly reinforced: that classics are enduring, whether they be the films of Hitchcock or the very best designs of fashion.”
