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Rear Window: Costumes
Quotations from Sarah Street, "''The Dresses Had Told Me': |
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The "New Look," the style launched in Paris in 1947 which celebrated full, feminine skirts and placed particular emphasis on the body's contours. . . . The tight black top connotes a ballerina's athleticism while the full skirt and shawl present her feminimity as a full, larger-than-life construct."
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"A full, black dress that signifies only one thing: seduction. . . . This costume is Lisa's most threatening and she wears it after their apparent marital incompatibility has been discussed without resolution." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| ". . . a color link with Miss Lonely Hearts, symbolic perhaps of a deeper affinity. . . . In many ways Miss Lonely Hearts is a vulgar version of Lisa." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Smart and businesslike, chic but with a more tailored, masculine shape. . . . Once again her image is riddled with contradictions where 'feminity' appears to be a multifaceted construction. . . . The sleeveless halter blouse reveals her bare arms, another example of how a sense of sexual presence is concealed but later revealed." |
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| "'Preview of coming attractions'. . . ." "The nightgown provides a link between Lisa and Mrs. Thorwald." In attacking Lisa, will Thorwald be acting out Jeff's unconscious wishes? |
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| ". . . Appropriate for her role as an intrepid action-woman. . . . It resembles Stella's sensible dresses which look like uniforms. [But] Stella's are from the mid-1940s while Lisa's are the latest variation on a classic style." |
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| Lisa's final outfit: "for Jeff the . . . female assertiveness and independence--might not be so appealing." |
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| Women's handbags as symbols: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Lisa's Mark Cross overnight case, a symbol of her sexual openness. Lisa to Jeff: "'I bet yours isn't this small' - . . . Lisa's bag is contrasted with Jeff's enormous phallic lens as he comments on her 'feminine intuition.'" |
Lisa with Mrs. Thorwald's empty handbag, missing "basic equipment." "In many Hitchcock films a woman's handbag functions as a private space, often concealing secrets. . . ." |
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| Jeff in his pajamas. "His state of undress . . . underlines the theme of Jeff's vulnerability." We also see the songwriter, the newlywed husband, and the husband of the dog-owning couple in pajamas. The first words heard in Rear Window come from the songwriter's radio: "Men, are you over 40? When you wake up in the morning, do you feel tired and run down? Do you have that listless feeling?" |
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