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Edith Head: the influential costume designer in Hollywood fashion history
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The star of Edith Head on Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 6504 Hollywood Blvd., California, U.S.A.
Photo by SpacePotato.
The name synonymous to costume design is Edith Head. As an influential costume designer, Head left a good mark in old Hollywood fashion. She successfully penetrated the world of costuming through Paramount Pictures in 1924. With Her 1920s costume for Clara Bow in the Academy award-winning silent film, Wings (1927), Head paved her way to a budding career in costume design. She earned her first Oscars award for Heiress (1949) and continued to increase her stature by winning 7 more - Samson and Delilah (1950), All About Eve (1950) A Place in the Sun (1951), Roman Holiday (1953), Sabrina (1954), The Facts of Life (1960) and The Sting (1973) - which she referred to as her children.
After Travis Banton left for Universal Pictures in 1938, Edith Head rose up to be the costume head in Paramount Pictures. The hard worker got an even more favorable outcome - more credibility and respect to her craft. People in Hollywood regard her not merely as lady of costumes design but also someone who can flatter any woman's figure. This is one of her strong points. Along with her fashion sense and diplomatic nature, Head has been requested as personal designer to Hollywood women in the movie industry, such as Mae West and Barbara Stanwyck. She was even Alfred Hitchcock's favorite. Head was costumes designer to 11 films of the thriller film director.
The Hollywood School for Girls /
Women's Club constructed in 1948,
Spanish Colonial Revival style.
Photo by The City Project.
Early Life and Marriage
Born Edith Claire Posener in 1897 (unsure due to her records destroyed in a courthouse fire), young Edith moved from Searchlight, Nevada to San Bernardino, California. In 1918, she graduated from University of California at Berkeley with Bachelor of Arts in French. Two years later, she received master's degree in Romance Languages from Stanford University. She was a French teacher at Bishops School in La Jolla, California before she taught Languages and Art at Hollywood School for Girls. Teacher by day and student by night, she pursued art studies at Chouinard Art College where she met her husband, Charles Head. Thirteen years after their marriage in 1923, they divorced. She went back to married life in 1940 tying the knot with Paramount art director Wiard (Bill) Ihnen. They lived together at their lavish Mexican-style Casa Ladera in Los Angeles, California until Ihnen's death in 1979. Edith, on the other hand, passed away in 1981 with her first husband's last name still attached to her.
Edith Head costume design
sketch for Lucille Ball
Photo by Lucy_Fan
Career in Costuming
Also gifted with interpersonal skill, Edith was able to outfit even that 1920's Hollywood star whom Head of Design, Travis Banton, finds difficult to work with. Clara Bow, the biggest star of Paramount Pictures, was said to have poor fashion sense. Edith Head biographer David Chierichetti cited some of Bow's fashion faux pas that includes wearing high heels with ankle socks. Head managed to correct this. In the silent film, Wings (1927), Bow was well-suited for fashion in 1920s.
Again, interpersonal skill - some good communication skills with genius sense of fashion. She knew how to maintain good relationships with people in the movie industry. Even a start-up Hollywood starlet who became big during her era usually remained loyal to Head. Diplomatic Edith, however, was not to Paramount Pictures when she followed the footsteps of Banton and Hitchcock to Universal Studios in 1967.
An illustration by costume designer
Edith Head from the 1967
Random House edition of her
book, How to Dress for Success
Photo by tiny banquet committee
Notable Design Creations
Timeless Sabrina (1954) necklines seen on Audrey Hepburn's clothes are one of Head's sketches. The costume designer is also famous for designing Dorothy Lamour's sarong in The Jungle Princess (1936). Her Mae West ostrich feathers in She Done Him Wrong (1933) had also been noticed. In the movie, A Place In The Sun (1951), Elizabeth Taylor's strapless dress, Edith Head label, was a hit in 1967.
Head's sketches can also be found in her book, How To Dress For Success. (photo, right)
An illustrative doll by SilvrTabby
The Edith Head Trademark
The woman with a great Hollywood style sense, who sketched fabulous Hollywood dresses, only wore plain tailored suits on the set. While she made actors glamorous, she stayed as conservative as a classic school teacher behind her trademark blue-tinted glasses. To complete the look that is all her own - a never-changing hairstyle with bangs.
You may probably forget about costumes designer Edith Head after this; but possibly not if you have watched The Incredibles (2004) by Disney/Pixar. Remember the intelligently looking short black-haired-oversized-spectacled designer for superheroes? Yes, The Incredibles Edna Mode was patterned after the Academy Award winner.
If Edith Head is still alive, she might have created another great costume design of all time. Perhaps some Halloween fancy dress costumes for the month of October will earn her another Oscar. Or, maybe she might dress up her own real life Edna Mode for a new film. What ever is in Edith's head, it might have been a treat for Universal Pictures or whatever entertainment company she is with.
Find your own Halloween trick or treat here...
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References:
http://american-fashion-designers.suite101.com/article.cfm/costume_designer_edith_head
http://www.answers.com/topic/edith-head
Documentary: Edith Head - The Paramount Years (snippet)
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