Lovely Head

If there is an Hollywood costume designer with an intriguing personality, that is Edith Head.


She was born in Nevada in 1897 and after becaming a language teacher she started taking drawing classes. In 1924, despite her lack of experience, she was hired by Paramount Pictures, gaining a job in their costume department. She began designing costumes for silent movies and during the 30s she became one of the most important Hollywood designers.
During her long career she has worked for Paramount and Universal, on Hitchcock movies and was a favorite designer for stars like Barbara Stanwick, Bette Davis and Shirley Maclaine. She was nominated for 35 Academy Awards and won 8, more than any other woman in Hollywood history. She also took part in some tv shows, giving style tips, like the modern Rachel Zoe &Co.!


This could sounds as a fairytale but Head is not at all the classic heroine princess you may figure out in your mind...

She was a strange woman, very private and low profile but with a perpetual iconic look: a full flat bangs - apparently copied by Anna May Wong - and the round dark glasses, that almost surely inspired the styling of the character of Edna Mode in The Incredibles.


Also, she had a great talent and during her long career she had designed some of the most remembered movies outfits, but despite all this she had a very controverse personality. Why? First of all she got her job at Paramount stealing another student's sketches for the interview and she did it again several times during the last part of her career: she used to take credit for other people's work, like when she accepted the Oscar for Sabrina, when we all know (now) that Hepburn's stunning outfits were designed by Givenchy.


Unfair? All in all, the only thing I know for sure is that I'll never forget the outfits Edith Head has created for Grace Kelly in Rear Window and To Catch a Thief. She did great things, when she did them for real...