Kim Novak’s Wardrobe in Vertigo makes her the Ultimate Hitchcock Blonde
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Kim Novak Vertigo, Vertigo storyline, cast and Kim Novak’s stunning fashion throughout the Hitchcock film.
Kim Novak plays the ultimate icy Hitchcock blonde in her dual role as Madeline and Judy Barton in Vertigo.
This post is all about Kim Novak Vertigo
Vertigo Cast
Originally the star Vera Miles was cast to play Madeline in Vertigo.
However, after delays with filming, she got pregnant and had to decline the role.
Novak was under contract with Columbia pictures at the time, but Harry Cohn agreed to lend her to the role if she and Jimmy Stewart could star in Bell, Book, and Candle later on.
Kim Novak was then given the dual role of Madeline and Judy.
Kim Novak was a popular star by 1958.
She had filmed Pal Joey with Frank Sinatra the year before, which did well at the box office, but wasn’t received well by critics.
Vertigo Storyline
Vertigo (1958) centers around John “Scottie” or “Johnny” Ferguson, (James Stewart) a police officer who is forced to retire because a traumatic experience results in his developing an extreme case of Vertigo.
An old colleague hires him to follow his beautiful wife Madeline (Kim Novak) who has been acting strangely by believing she is once of her ancestors.
As Scottie learns more about the tormented wife, he begins to fall in love with her.
Although he’s falling in love with her, it’s also obvious that Madeline has some issues.
She’s obsesses with a relative that killed herself, and Scottie even saves from trying to drown beneath the golden gate bridge.
A climatic scene unfolds with the tormented Madeline jumping to her death from the top of a tower, and Scottie unable to save her because of his Vertigo.
After a court trial and a short stint in a psychiatric ward, Scottie runs into someone that looks just like Madeline, Judy Barton.
An obsessed Scottie, has her dress up as Madeline, and doesn’t realize it is her until she puts on a piece of jewelry that used to belong to Madeline.
He then figures out the plot.
It turns out Judy and Scotts colleague had set up the entire plot, with Scottie as the fall guy.
Judy was pretending to be Madeline (the colleague’s real wife) and made Scottie believe that she was mentally ill and obsessed with suicide.
Later, when Scotties sees her run up to the tower and they throw the real Madeline off the tower, he can testify that she committed suicide.
In a sad ending, Judy also falls to her death in the same way as she had planned for Madeline.
Although Vertigo was a box office failure at the time, over the years, it has reversed course and become thought of as Hitchcock’s greatest films.
The suspenseful, sad, and haunting movie is a must-see for Hitchcock fans.
Kim Novak was 25 during the filming of Vertigo and James Stewart was 50.
Hitchcock blamed Stewart as being too old for Novak for the reason of the films lack of success when it was first released.
Fashion in Vertigo
Miss Novak’s wardrobe was designed by the one and only Edith Head.
Edith Head collaborated with Hitchcock on several films.
The fashion in the film is critical to the storyline.
Kim Novak didn’t like the gray suit that Edith Head created for Madeline and didn’t feel like herself in it.
However, this ended up being an advantage, as in the movie she was playing someone she wasn’t.
The result is stunning fashion in the structured gray suits that Kim Novak plays as Judy playing Madeline.
And when Kim Novak was playing Judy, she was able to wear clothes that she felt more herself in.
For more on the talented Edith Head’s costumes designs:
Costume Designer Edith Head | Her Stunning Fashion and Award-winning Costumes
All of Kim Novak’s fashion in Vertigo
From the stiff structured gray suit that Kim Novak hated wearing, to Judy’s looser fashion, here are all of Kim Novak’s stunning outfits in Vertigo.
You have to admire Hitchcock’s stunning use of color throughout the film.
Notice how each scene is carefully crafted and looks amazing.
Kim Novak Vertigo blue and green Dress
Scottie (James Stewart) first sees Kim Novak’s character Madeline while she’s at dinner with his colleague.
She’s wearing a black dress with a green wrap which makes a dramatic contrast against the bright red wallpaper.
It seems that after seeing her he decides to take the case.
Kim Novak Vertigo Gray Suit
James Stewart (Scottie) follow Kim Novak’s character to a flower shop where she picks up a bouquet of flowers.
She’s wearing what is her defining look in Vertigo, a tailored gray skirt over a white blouse, heels, and with her hair back from her face.
After the flower shop, she goes to a museum, where Scottie notices that the bouquet of flowers she bought matches the portrait she is looking at. He also notices that she is wearing her hair in a similar style.
Later on, she goes to the cemetery and looks at the grave of her ancestor.
Scottie later learns that this ancestor of hers committed suicide.
Kim Novak Vertigo Black Dress
Another day at the museum for Kim Novak’s character Madeline.
This time she is wearing a black dress accessorized with gloves and heels.
James Stewart’s character Scottie watches as she drops flowers into the bay one by one and then suddenly jumps in herself.
He jumps in and rescues her and takes her back to his apartment.
Kim Novak Vertigo Red Robe
Since her clothes need to dry after being in the water, Scottie (James Stewart) gives Madeline (Kim Novak) a red robe of his to wear.
Kim Novak Vertigo White Coat
Later, Kim Novak’s character Madeline comes by to thank Scottie (James Stewart) for saving her life the night before.
She’s wearing a white overcoat over black, and completes the outfit with black gloves and a black purse.
Kim Novak Vertigo Gray Coat
Madeline (Kim Novak) comes to see Scottie (James Stewart) again, this time wearing a gray coat over black.
Kim Novak Vertigo Gray Suit
For the most dramatic scene in the movie, Kim Novak’s character Madeline wears her trademark gray skirt suit again as they drive down to the Mission San Juan Bautista.
It is a the mission where Scottie (James Stewart) sees Madeline commit suicide, by jumping from the tower, with his Vertigo not allowing him to help save her.
Traumatized again, Scottie has to go through an inquest where he is accused of neglecting Madeline and afterwards spends months in a mental clinic.
Kim Novak Vertigo Green Dress
After leaving the clinic, Scottie (James Stewart) is walking around San Francisco, when he sees a woman that looks just like Madeline (Kim Novak).
Only she claims to be Judy, not Madeline.
Kim Novak wears drastically different clothes in her role as Judy.
Where Madeline was supposed to be the classy, cool blonde, Judy is supposed to appear “trashy” (in a 1950’s way which really looks pretty good.)
She wears dramatic, almost garish makeup, wear bright colors with no bra underneath and hardly resembles Madeline at all.
Kim Novak Vertigo Purple Dress
Scottie (James Stewart) convinces Judy (Kim Novak) to go to dinner with him.
She wears a bright purple strappy dress, again, a sharp contrast to the muted, dark tones that Madeline would wear.
While at dinner, she catches Scottie looking at a woman who walks by in a gray suit.
Kim Novak Vertigo Yellow Blouse
Judy continues to see Scottie, and her clothes continue to contrast with Madeline’s.
Here she is wearing a bright yellow top accessorized with green.
Kim Novak Vertigo Brown Cardigan
She wears a brown cardigan tucked into a green skirt when Scottie takes her to a fancy dress shop to try to find her a gray suit.
Kim Novak Vertigo Gray Suit
Scottie is able to find the exact suit that Madeline used to wear.
Judy resists wearing it at first, but finally complies. After she changes her hair and makeup, Madeline is back.
Scottie falls for her all over again, and he doesn’t realize at this point that it’s the same woman.
Kim Novak Vertigo Black Dress
Judy gets dressed for dinner in a classy black dress.
Again, she’s back into her Madeline look, so no more bright colors.
She begins putting on her jewelry and asks Scottie for help fastening her necklace.
At first Scottie doesn’t recognize the necklace, but then suddenly he does.
He realizes it’s the same necklace worn in the portrait that Madeline used to stare at in the museum.
It seems at this point that he puts together the entire plot.
His old colleague had heard about his Vertigo condition and had hired him to watch his “wife” Madeline, who was really Judy dressed up as Madeline.
At the mission when Madeline ran up the stairs and Scottie was unable to follow due to his Vertigo, they had killed the real Madeline and threw her down, fooling Scottie into thinking that she had killed herself.
In a dramatic twist to the story, Scottie forces Judy to go with him to the Mission again, returning to the scene of the crime.
He gets her to confess to her role in the murder as they climb to the top of the bell tower.
Then, Judy gets startled by a nun coming out of the shadows and falls to her death from the bell tower, in the same way that the real Madeline died.
It’s quite a sad ending, as you find yourself really identifying with Judy’s dilemma and you want her and Scottie to have a happy ending together.
Instead, the ending is quite sudden and things are left pretty open-ended. We’re assuming that Scottie ended up instead with his old college sweetheart Midge.
This post was all about Kim Novak Vertigo
What did you think of Kim Novak’s wardrobe in Vertigo?
Other posts you might like:
Vertigo Plot Holes and Did Judy Commit Suicide at the end?
The 4 James Stewart Hitchcock Movies You Probably Haven’t Seen
Vertigo Midge – The Most Underrated Female Character in Vertigo?
Originally published Apr 2021, updated Mar 2024
Marvellous film, following on from Psycho and the Birds straightforward plots this film is a slow burner and very complicated, not what people were expecting from Hitchcock. It took years for people to understand its nuances and complexity. With the classic clothes both James and Kim coupled with San Francisco’s highlights combined with those wonderful cars
it seems a bygone era to modern day.
A true classic with a sad ending, he
lost his love twice which is beyond cruel. The winner was the man who committed the perfect murder and got clean away with it.
Yes, you’re right on so many levels. It’s crazy how Vertigo went from being a box-office flop to one of the ‘greatest films of all time’, due to the great reasons you pointed out above. Love the thoughtful commentary…. 🙂
Who designed the large dark leather handbag Kim Novak uses when plays the Madilene character in Vertigo?
That’s a great question to research….! Kim Novak was one of the Ultimate Hitchcock Blondes — we love her incredible vintage style!
Thank you for this article. I would like to add that the legendary Hollywood icon, 8 time Academy Award-winning Edith Head designed Ms. Novak’s wardrobe for this movie. She was a genius at dressing women in film. She knew how to dress each person’s body to compliment their unique figure. In her 1967 book, How to Dress for Success, she talks about dressing women in films according to what their character would wear. You can pretty much thank Edith Head for Kim Novak’s stunning wardrobe in Hitchcock’s masterpiece, Vertigo.
Love Edith Head!
Doris Day also wears a gray suit like that in The Man Who Knew too Much. I think Hitchcock was obsessed with beautiful,blondes.
Agreed! It seemed to be a thing for him.
Also here’s a question. Why did Judy do it? Was it money? She was still living in that dumpy hotel when Stewart saw her again. That is never explained. Also, in the scene when Scotty follows Judy to her hotel room and she opens the door to see him standing there, there is not the slightest bit of surprise. She was in love with him and thought she’d never see him again. It only makes sense that she would have a reaction when she opens the door. But nothing.
Great post 🙂 I love every single outfit worn by Kim Novak in the film and each outfit fit the tone of the character as you two bloggers so eloquently imply 🙂 Coincidentally, I working on an essay regarding Vertigo right now 🙂 I just love everything about this film 🙂