Friday Spotlight: Edith Head
- donna31489
- May 1, 2015
- 2 min read
“You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it.”
-Edith Head
One of my favorite features of classic film is undoubtedly the fashion. Akin to works of art, they immeasurably enhance the movie, helping bring the characters and stories to life.
When I think of classic costume design, one name comes to mind—Edith Head. Legendary. Ingenious. Brilliant. She was the sartorial genius behind the most memorable looks of the silver screen.
In a career that spanned five decades, over 1,100 films, 35 Oscar nominations and an epic 8 Oscar wins, she created masterpieces as magnificent as the productions themselves—sometimes even better.
In a male-dominated studio system, she rose to Chief Designer at Paramount Pictures in 1938. Working alongside top directors, including Hitchcock, Wyler and Wilder, she became a household name styling the stars we love most.
Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday and Sabrina. Grace Kelly in Rear Window and To Catch a Thief. Elizabeth Taylor in A Place in the Sun. The list is endless. Her designs were as beautiful as the stars themselves.
Words can’t encapsulate the magnitude of greatness in her work. From simple to elaborate, her designs never overtook the actress wearing them. She knew how to strike the perfect balance between costume and character, with an eye for the female body and an individualized niche for every leading lady.
At almost 70, she left Paramount to finish her career at Universal Studios, where she worked until her death in 1981. Revered today as one of the greatest costume designers in cinema history, Head’s artistic elegance made a monumental mark on style—a mark as everlasting as the prolific legacy she left behind.
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