Vitals

Rock Hudson as Mitch Wayne, oil company geologist

Texas, Fall 1956

Film: Written on the Wind
Release Date: October 5, 1956
Director: Douglas Sirk
Costume Designer: Bill Thomas (credited for gowns)

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

German-born director Douglas Sirk’s third in a trio of lushly photographed melodramas starring Rock Hudson, Written on the Wind, premiered in London seventy years ago this week on October 5, 1956.

This Southern Gothic melodrama follows a Texas oil dynasty, adapted from Robert Wilder’s 1946 novel of the same name—a roman à clef inspired by the scandal surrounding torch singer Libby Holman and the mysterious 1932 death of her tobacco-heir husband, Zachary Smith Reynolds, at his family’s estate. Threats from the Reynolds family kept a film adaptation out of production for a decade, until screenwriter George Zuckerman transplanted the drama from a North Carolina tobacco dynasty to a Texas oil family, evidently distancing it enough from its real-life inspiration for production to proceed.

Zuckerman and Sirk’s narrative centers on the family of oil baron Jasper Hadley (Robert Keith), including his irresponsible playboy son Kyle (Robert Stack) and self-destructive daughter Marylee (Dorothy Malone, who won the Academy Award for her performance). Both grew up alongside Mitch Wayne (Rock Hudson), an honest, hardworking geologist who remains employed by the family and earns Jasper’s admiration for his work ethic. While Marylee lusts after Mitch, Mitch longs for Lucy (Lauren Bacall), a company secretary whom Kyle impulsively marries after meeting her on a business trip.

Despite all the romantic turmoil, Mitch does find time for a covert lunch among the fall foliage with Marylee, who jokes, “There’s nothing like a picnic! I’ve brought everything but rain and ants.”

---

What’d He Wear?

From his tailoring to casual wear, Mitch Wayne’s wardrobe favors shades of brown that highlights an earthier, grounded contrast to Kyle Hadley’s cooler, blue-forward costumes. When he leaves work only for Marylee to cajole him into a picnic, Mitch wears a beautifully tailored tweed two-button sports coat. The medium-weight barleycorn tweed cloth is woven from tan and cream yarns that present as a mottled beige overall finish.

The cut is consistent with 1950s trends: flatteringly full and wide through the chest and straight shoulders, tapering at the suppressed waist with a ventless back that keeps the skirt close. The sleeves are roped at the shoulders and finished with three-button cuffs. Patch pockets coordinate with the sportier tweed cloth to distinguish the jacket from worsted businesswear; in addition to the large patch pockets over the hips, the jacket has two patch-style chest pockets which Mitch dresses with an off-white linen pocket square folded into the left pocket.

Mitch’s cotton poplin shirt is a pale shade of ecru that presents a softer harmony with his light brown tailoring than stark white. Choosing this shirt for this jacket demonstrates Mitch’s sartorial literacy, as he reserves his dressier shirts with non-buttoned collars and French cuffs to accompany worsted business suits.

The button-down spread collar mainains a neatly decreased formality with his tweed, framing the proportionally small Windsor knot of his straight, solid chocolate-brown tie. His shirt also has a front placket and button cuffs.

Mitch balances the tonality with his richly hued dark chocolate-brown worsted wool trousers, possibly orphaned from his two-piece suit of the same color—which would inform that they have double reverse-facing pleats, side pockets, and belt loops for his narrow glossy brown leather belt. The trousers are finished with turn-ups (cuffs) that break over the tops of his cognac-brown leather cap-toe five-eyelet oxfords, with dark-brown cotton lisle socks effectively continuing the leg-line from his trousers into his shoes.

By the end of Written on the Wind, Marylee has admitted the truth of Kyle’s death which allows Mitch free to pursue a future with Lucy. He wears exactly the same costume as he had during Marylee’s picnic, now topped with a light-gray fuzzy felt trilby styled with a narrow black cloth band and self-finished edges.

---

How to Get the Look

Written on the Wind may culminate with a character’s death, but the true tragedy at the heart of the story is that we don’t spend enough time with Rock Hudson’s exemplary fall tailoring of a beige tweed four-pocket jacket, button-down collar shirt, and darker brown tie, trousers, and shoes. Only the hat should be left behind to keep the outfit perfectly relevant seventy years later.

• Beige barleycorn tweed single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with notch lapels, two patch chest pockets, two patch hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
• Pale-ecru cotton shirt with button-down spread collar, front placket, and button cuffs
• Dark brown straight tie
• Dark chocolate-brown worsted wool double reverse-pleated suit trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Narrow brown leather belt with single-prong buckle
• Cognac-brown calfskin leather cap-toe five-eyelet oxford shoes
• Dark chocolate-brown cotton lisle socks
• Light-gray fuzzy felt trilby with narrow black cloth band
• Cream linen pocket square

---

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.