The Birds: Mitch’s Cream Sweater and Silk Cravat
Rod Taylor and Tippi Hedren in The Birds (1963)
Vitals
Rod Taylor as Mitchell “Mitch” Brenner, smooth defense lawyer
Bodega Bay, California, Summer 1962
Film: The Birds
Release Date: March 28, 1963
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Wardrobe Supervisor: Rita Riggs
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
After the massive success of Psycho in 1960, Alfred Hitchcock knew his next thriller had to go above and beyond to meet the public’s expectations from the Master of Suspense. Inspiration fell from the skies the following summer when the California town of Capitola was besieged one August day by hundreds of sooty shearwaters slamming into their rooftops and littering the streets with bird corpses. Hitch, who vacationed in nearby Santa Cruz, saw the storytelling potential in this unique type of fear and immediately set to work developing a story with screenwriter Evan Hunter, adapting Daphne du Maurier’s novella The Birds from its postwar English setting to contemporary coastal California.
To create the desired dramatic mood shift, Hitch begins The Birds with escalating pranks between Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) and Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), borrowed from the best of classic screwball comedies. This tactic not only created an initial romantic conflict but also deliver total shock to audiences when the expected bird attack actually happens.
Irritated yet intrigued by her initial encounter with Mitch in a San Francisco bird shop, Melanie tracks him down to his family’s weekend retreat “about sixty miles north” up the California coast in Bodega Bay. Although Melanie tries to remain covert during her lovebird delivery mission, a group of squawking seagulls (foreshadowing!) betrays her position and a lighthearted chase ensues with Mitch behind the wheel of his truck as Melanie pilots a skiff across the open water. Romantic antics still dominate the general tone of the story, but when a seagull strikes Melanie’s head upon her return to shore to greet Mitch, the suspense permeates.
What’d He Wear?
Melanie caught Mitch spending a leisurely Saturday at his family’s coastal home. He’s dressed for casual comfort in a cream ribbed knit sweater and olive drab military-style cargo pants, adding a touch of idiosyncratic luxury with a silk cravat around his neck.
The cream sweater is worn in the seaside tradition of the classic Aran knit fisherman’s sweater, though Mitch’s heavy crew-neck jumper is stitched in a less complicated rib knit. The soft wool material is possibly cashmere.
An amused Mitch spies Melanie making her attempted escape.
Around his neck, Mitch wears a silk kerchief patterned with paisley droplets on a solid navy ground that nicely brings out Rod Taylor’s blue eyes. It is worn like a traditional day cravat, tucked into the front of his sweater.
No less amused but perhaps more concerned about Melanie’s recent gull strike, Mitch and his new companion exchange bon mots.
From the waist down, Mitch’s casual wardrobe is the same functional attire that he would later wear with his gray tweed suit jacket and white shirt on the day of the actual avian invasion. His olive drab cargo pants resemble the OG-107 herringbone twill (HBT) cotton utility trousers issued by the United States military during World War II, suggesting Mitch’s wartime service. The only pockets are the large bellows pockets on the outside of each thigh, which each close with a single metal button through a rectangular flap. He wears them with a thick dark brown oiled leather belt with a round-cornered brass single-prong buckle.
Mitch guides Melanie back to Bodega Bay.
Mitch wears his brown leather civilian work boots with four brass eyelets and tan stitching on the moc-toe, on the quarters, and around the heel-cap. The heavy brown soles have yellow rectangular logos on the arches that could help identify their maker. He likely wears them with gray socks as he does with the tweed jacket and white shirt.
Mitch’s simple yet elegant wristwatch has a gold case with a gold crown and silver dial with plain hour indicators, worn on a dark brown alligator strap.
Rod Taylor and Tippi Hedren in The Birds (1963)
How to Get the Look
One rarely associates military-style cargo pants with a silk cravat around the neck, but an individualist like Mitch Brenner is comfortable blending leisure and luxury however he chooses.
- Cream ribbed-knit cashmere wool crew-neck sweater
- Navy paisley-patterned silk day cravat
- Olive drab herringbone twill (HBT) cotton military-issue utility trousers with tall belt loops, button-down flapped side cargo pockets, and plain bottoms
- Reproductions of these classic GI pants can be found online
- Dark brown oiled leather belt with rounded brass single-prong buckle
- Dark brown leather moc-toe 4-eyelet boots
- Light gray socks
- Gold wristwatch with silver dial on dark brown alligator leather strap
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie
The Quote
You really like me, huh?
The pants look very similar to WWII Herringbone Twill GI issue trousers. They have the same color, cut and large pockets.
I just watched this film today: the outfit as above certainly conveyed luxury, warmth and practicality with an air of being ready for action.
I hadn’t seen the film for many years, but remembered some of the scenes as they approached so it must have made an impression when I saw it on tv long ago!
I was hoping you’d get around to this film someday. Brenner’s outfits are cool. And some of his later ensembles in the film work very well. Looking forward to more.
Agreed! I’d love to get more of Rod Taylor’s cinematic style in general featured here.
Your suggestion inspired my first post from The Birds a few years ago! (https://bamfstyle.com/2016/02/22/birds-mitch5-tweedcargo/)
That’s what I get for posting comments late on a Friday night (my time). I’d completely forgotten about your other write-up two years ago. I blame that extra glass of red that I had with dinner (pizza. Home-made) earlier in the evening.
What war would he have fought in? If this movie takes place in 1963, and Mitch Brenner is about 30, he would have been born in 1933. Only 8 years old in 1941. If he were a bit older, say 35, 1928 would have been his birthdate, still too early for WWII which ended in 1945 when Mitch might have been only 17. Just curious if this is what you were thinking.
Your question illustrates one of the reasons that the Korean War has been called “the forgotten war”. I believe the WWII-era HBTs were issued through the early ’50s untiL OG-107 became standard in 1952. That said, Mitch may have also served during peacetime or may not even be a veteran at all and just bought surplus.
Those would be the conclusions I’d arrive at now, but I couldn’t tell you what I was specifically thinking when I wrote this seven years ago. Probably any of the above!
The most likely situation is that there was some direction followed by the costume/wardrobe team to suggest that Mitch may have had some military experience, so they outfitted him in a pair of surplus HBT trousers without thinking too much about much biographical background.