Yesterday, a faithful holiday wife! Today, a scheming Christmas witch. In director Richard Quine’s Bell, Book and Candle, Kim Novak plays Gillian Holroyd, a modern witch with an antiquities store in Greenwich Village. Bored with the witch lifestyle, she confides to her Aunt Queenie (Elsa Lanchester) and brother Nicky (Jack Lemmon) that she longs to find love and have a normal life, perhaps even with that nice man who lives upstairs (Jimmy Stewart), although he’s spoken for. Queenie, who absolutely loves being a witch, waves off her niece’s concerns and convinces her to go out to the local witch hangout, the Zodiac Club, on Christmas Eve. Pay attention to how the scene plays with red and green, in costume, setting, and lighting.
Look at how the drinks, the lining on her cape and her manicure all pop under this green lighting. Now look at what happens when Jimmy Stewart shows up with his fiancee:
This isn’t red AND green; this is red VS. green, with Gillian’s expertly deployed bright red pump stealing the scene. She takes an instant disliking to the other woman.
What we love about this ensemble is its subtlety. It doesn’t necessarily scream “Christmas,” but the longer you look at it, the more holiday-appropriate it becomes. You can’t ever go wrong putting your Christmas lady in red velvet, but this shade is dark, and you only truly notice that it’s red when the camera picks up the lining, or the sparkly trim, which lends it a slight old world Bohemian vibe. Okay, we lied about something. Under the right conditions, this ensemble ABSOLUTELY screams “Christmas.” Like so:
It doesn’t get much more Christmassy than a red velvet hooded cloak with coordinating muff and gloves. This whole look, by the legendary Hollywood costume designer Jean Louis, evokes the holiday, but it also lends it mystery and a sense of real age and history. After all, this wasn’t exactly the trendiest sort of look for 1958 New York, but it totally sells the idea that she’s a lonely witch looking for love.
And it has that quality that all great movie costumes have: it changes from scene to scene. In the bar, she’s darkly mysterious, in the snow, she’s the height of romance, and surrounded by presents and bows, she becomes a Christmas queen. She decides to set her sights on Stewart and conducts a very Christmassy sort of spell ceremony:
And wouldn’t you know it?
It works. Note how suddenly her bare back is the center of attention in these scenes. She was a lonely, pouting witch, then she was a mysterious Christmas witch, and now she’s a sexy, seductive witch all in the same gorgeous velvet dress.
Next up: A manic pixie Christmas girl!
[Photo/Still Credit: Courtesy of Columbia Pictures]
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Christmas Movie Dress Advent Calendar Day 24: Vera Ellen in WHITE CHRISTMAS
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