The Ultimate Ice Cool Chameleon – Kim Novak

Edith Head, Hitchcock’s main costume designer, was a genius at using clothes to help define a character and add to the narrative of a story and this is undoubtedly most obvious in Hitch’s 1958 psychological thriller Vertigo and in the characters played by Kim Novak.

Born Marilyn Pailine Novak on February 13^th in Chicago Illinois, Novak started out as a model in her hometown before moving to Los Angeles in the early 50s.

Her first acting break came in 1954 with The French Line and although her part was small, the young model was seen by a Columbia Pictures talent agent and signed to a long-term contract where the studio changed her name to Kim.

In 1955, the in-demand new actress won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer and for World Film Favourite for her staring role in Picnic and she continued her success by starring alongside Frank Sinatra in The Man With The Golden Arm and Pal Joey. But in 1958, Kim's career defining role came about when she was cast in Vertigo, a film that was so critically acclaimed, her performance was heralded as one of the greatest female performances in cinema.

Kim as the ice-cool Madeleine

In the psychological thriller, Novak plays two characters Madeleine and Judy. Madeleine is a rich shipping Heiress, wearing sophisticated and slightly austere ensembles throughout. She’s unhappy, suicidal and detached and her clothes epitomise this. Her makeup is minimal, her hair is perfectly coiffed and she wears very little jewellery despite her wealth. Her husband thinks she is possessed and her clothes and makeup give her a ghostly, other-worldly aura.

On the other hand, Judy who is a shop assistant from Kansas is bright, colourful and brash. Her clothes are a little too tight, she over compensates for her lack of wealth with costume jewellery and silk scarves and she’s provocative and overtly sexy. She doesn’t wear a bra throughout, emphasising that she’s at ease and natural.

Playing Kansas shop assistant Judy 

But, perhaps the most telling difference between the two characters was their hair colours. Maddeleine is the cool blonde whereas Judy is the warm–hearted brunette.

For designer Marios Schwab, who was inspired specifically by Novak and a glittering Marlene Dietrich in 1950's Stage Fright for his autumn winter 12 collection, the Hitchcock heroine is someone he'll always return to. Speaking to The Guardian he said "Hitchcock has been there since I started looking at the femme fatale. These are women you see and fall in love with but you don't know who they are."

But it's not just Schwab who has referenced one of Hitchcock's most iconic leading ladies. In 2005, Hitchcock devotee Alexander McQueen named his first “It” bag the “Novak”, forever honouring the actresses influence on fashion. 

Marios Schwab autumn winter 2012

She may have ended her career on the soap Falcon Crest but Novak’s time as a Hitchcock heroine is undoubtedly her finest career moment to date and she’ll forever be seen as the coolest of the blondes.

Intrigued and want to know more? Check out Hitchcock which hits Irish cinema’s on February 8th