EDITH HEAD- Costume designer during the Golden Age of Hollywood!
Hollywood fashion was first and foremost created for the movies and the characters. With the rise in popularity of Hollywood, screen idols became role models for the masses.
Costume designers played a major role and were responsible for making all the Hollywood icons, and EDITH HEAD was one of the most profolic costume designers of hollywood!!
EARLY LIFE:
Legendary American costume designer Edith Head was born Edith Claire Posener on October 28, 1897, in San Bernardino, California.
After graduating from Los Angeles High School, she attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree. She also earned a Master of Arts degree in romance languages in 1920 from Stanford University. She also studied art at the Otis Art Institute and Chouinard School of Art.
COMMENCEMENT OF HER CAREER:
In 1923 she was hired as a sketch artist by the head designer at the Paramount Studios and in 1938 became the head of Paramount costume design department and worked with them for 44 years until 1967 when she moved to Universal Studios.
COMMERCIAL & ARTISTIC SUCCESS:
1- Her first major project was to create gowns for Mae West in She Done Him Wrong (1933).
The tight-fitting gowns designed by Head, probably contributed to the film’s huge success.
2- Another notable Head design of the 1930s was a clinging Sarong dress made for Dorothy Lamour in The Jungle Princess (1936).
This creation became an instant fashion hit among women of all shapes and sizes.
3- In her five decade career, she received 8 Academy Awards, the largest number ever won by a women. And was nominated for 35 Academy Awards!!!
Head’s costumes ranged from the elegantly simple to elaborately flamboyant.
3- She received her first Academy Award nomination (Best Costume Design & Color in 1949, for her design work in the 1948 film The Emperor Waltz, starring Joan Fontaine and Bing Crosby.
4- Head won her first Oscar (Best Costume Design, Black-and-White) in 1950, for her costume work in 1949’s film The Heiress.
5- The celebrated visionary continued to be an artistic force with other films and won another Oscar for the 1953 film Roman Holiday, in which Head worked with the rising star Audrey Hepburn. The following year Head won another Oscar for a Hepburn film, Sabrina.
6- By 1970, Head had received her 31st Oscar nomination, specifically for her work on Bob Fosse’s 1969 musical Sweet Charity, starring Shirley MacLaine and Ricardo Montalban.
7- Her eighth and final Oscar came after she had switched to Universal Studios, for The Sting (1973), the first film for which she received an award for outfitting male stars, Paul Newman and Robert Redford, setting a record for most Oscars won by a woman.(a record she still holds today)
8- In 1978, Head was honored with her last Oscar nomination (Best Costume Design; shared with Burton Miller), for her design work in Airport ‘77.
-In addition to these award-winning films, Head worked on more than 1,100 films. One of her most notable partnerships was with Alfred Hitchcock, with whom she worked on 11 films. These included designs for Grace Kelly’s costumes in Rear Window and To Catch a Thief, Head considered Kelly and To Catch a Thief her favorite star and film.
9- The character “EDNA MODE” in Disney Pixar’s THE INCREDIBLES (2004) was modelled on her.
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Here are some of my personal favourite quotes by Edith Head!!
1- Your dress should be tight enough to show you’re a woman and loose enough to show you’re a lady.
2- You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it.
3- A designer is only as good as the star who wears her clothes.
PROFESSIONAL HIGH’s & LOW’s
By the late 1930s Head’s popularity was increasing, and her success was guaranteed.
She was designing costumes for as many as 50 films per year, and routinely worked 16-hours everyday.
She used to call herself “a combination of psychiatrist, artist, fashion designer, dressmaker, pincushion, historian, nursemaid, and purchasing agent.”
During the 1950s Head became a fashion commentator on the Art Linkletter television show, House Party.
By the late 1950s, Hollywood had moved away from elaborate costume dramas, and Head was working on only a few films per year. During this time she wrote a book named THE DRESS DOCTOR, a retelling of her career that became an instant best-seller.
After she moved to Universal Studios in the late 1960s, her film work was further reduced that’s why she began new work, such as writing a syndicated fashion column and serving as president of the Costume Designers Guild for three years (1966–1969).
In 1970, Head was diagnosed with a rare bone marrow disease and her husband also was in poor health. However, Head continued to work through the following decade by designing uniforms for female members of the U.S. Coast Guard.
By the end of her lifetime, Edith Head had secured her legacy as Hollywood’s best-known costume designer. Her final film work was for Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, which was released in 1982 after her death.(October 24, 1981) Her funeral was attended by crowds of Hollywood stars, as well as costume fitters and studio guards.
BIBLIOGRAPHY & REFERENCES
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SMRUTI GUPTA, FBM 2018–19 AT ISDI.
BLOG FOR THE CULTURAL HISTORY OF FASHION BUSINESS.
SUBJECT TEACHER- BELINDA BAWA.
