Classic Hollywood from A to Z- E is for Edith Head

Classic Hollywood From A to Z – an alphabetical journey through the Golden Age of cinema.

I don’t think it’s exaggeration to say that Edith Head is the most famous Hollywood costume designer around. Her career spanned 57 years. She won 8 Academy Awards. She designed costumes for most of Hollywood’s leading actresses including Grace Kelly, Barbara Stanwyck, Audrey Hepburn ,and Bette Davis. She was a frequent collaborator of both Preston Sturges and Alfred Hitchcock.

Incredibly, she achieved all this without a background in costume design. When she was hired as a costume sketch artist by Paramount Pictures she had very little prior experience. Doesn’t that make the above sketches even more amazing?

And boy did she have an eye for design. Just look at these gowns:

Not only are they beautiful but the are extremely complementary to the women who are wearing them. Amazing.

A few years back I read Edith Head: The Life and Times of Hollywood’s Celebrated Costume Designer by David Chierichetti. It’s a bit dry but it was fun gaining some insight into the woman behind the costumes. For instance, she was pretty old fashioned and didn’t take part in the Hollywood scene. Sure, she had famous friends but she preferred spending her free time with her husband, Wiard Ihnen. And those glasses? Not so much a fashion statement as a mask for slightly crossed eyes.

And I recently found out this fun fact. Edith Head was the costume designer for all of the “Road” pictures.