In these endless times of generalized confinement, and while we are increasingly scratching our heads to find something to entertain ourselves with on Netflix and all the other streaming platforms, there is one film that we would do well not to forget to watch. Rear Window, of course.
Released in the fall of 1954, the forty-sixth film by legendary British director Alfred Hitchcock tells the story of a man who has nothing better to do than stay at home. Jeff Jeffries, played here by the handsome and equally legendary James Stewart, is an adventurous photographer who, with his leg in a cast and his buttocks in a wheelchair, spends his days staring out the window.
Rear Window is a film about loneliness and despair, about time passing slowly, about anger and enthusiasm that quickly fades. Above all, it is a film about voyeurism as a passion by default since poor Jeff Jeffries chooses here to occupy himself by dissecting with the end of this lens that usually travels the world with him, the little world that bustles about in the apartments located on the other side of the courtyard of his building.
For all that, and without mentioning viruses, Rear Window is today a film with a terribly particular taste. Without starting to spy so obsessively on the world opposite, there is something here, in James Stewart, from which we can draw inspiration at will in order to make our confinement a little more pleasant: his chic. Thus, despite this life that is only lived indoors and without even the possibility of getting up, the character of Jeff Jeffries manages with a certain vista, it must be said, to look good from one day to the next. The sign that our man clearly does not let himself get down. In Rear Window, Jeff Jeffries elevates wearing pajamas to the absolute elegance of confinement.
There is something here, in James Stewart, that we can draw inspiration from to make our confinement a little more pleasant: his chic
Over the four days during which the film takes place, the hero appears in four different outfits of this type. There are khaki pajamas, then blue ones, then blue ones, and finally, when the tension is at its peak (all the same, we are in Hitchcock's house, and it is not because everything takes place at a window that the suspense is not there), another one that is pink. They are made of poplin, this delicate and light material that is found on a large part of Hast's formal shirts . Mr. Jeffries' pajamas have a wide collar, called an Ulster collar, which more or less resembles that of Cuban shirts . Finally, they have three pockets, one on the chest and two at the waist, which are very reminiscent, well, of those on our work jackets .
Like an aside in the middle of a movie scene, let's just say here that the elegance, comfort and practicality of the tops worn by Jeff Jeffries are all mixed up in the Hast wardrobe. This echo says one important thing: at Hast, our passion for ultimate elegance guides our research in order to create pieces that transcend eras and embrace the spirit of today. Timeless, in short. But let's get back to Rear Window, that's what matters here.
Since it seems to be particularly hot in the film, Jeffries never fully buttons the top five large white buttons, which makes him look a bit scruffy, but that's okay. As for the pajama bottoms, they are held up at the waist by a drawstring and have no pockets on either side. It wouldn't do any good to do otherwise since Jeffries spends all his time sitting down.
To give a little more scope to its elegance, the character has the right foot - the valid one - shod with a pretty black leather slipper, called Opera slipper, which we loved to wear in the middle of the 20th century. Without laces or big stitching, it looks like a ballet dancer's shoe, to slide delicately on the living room parquet floor.
With his hair impeccably combed back, and certainly varnished with a light layer of brilliantine, a Swiss watch with gold hands on his wrist, Jeff Jeffries would be almost ready for a stroll in the park and even an evening reception.
Beyond the periods of confinement, and accessorized as it should be, pajamas could well be the new outdoor outfit. That said, even if we know how to wear pajamas like Jeff Jeffries, he has one advantage over all of us and forever: Grace Kelly. In the guise of Lisa Freemont, she is his daily visitor and the one who makes him, in truth, shudder even more than what happens in the other apartments. An elegant one, too, and not in pajamas. Each time she appears on camera, her outfits have new colors, materials and shapes that are striking. To the famous costume designer Edith Head in charge of imagining these looks, Alfred Hitchcock only asked that Grace Kelly "look like china, almost untouchable".