Edith Head

Edith Head

Edith Head in 1976
Born Edith Claire Posener
October 28, 1897(1897-10-28)
Searchlight, Nevada
Died October 24, 1981(1981-10-24) (aged 83)
Los Angeles, California
Years active 1927–1981
Spouse Charles Head (1923–1938)
Wiard Ihnen (1949–1979)

Edith Head (October 28, 1897 – October 24, 1981) was an American costume designer who had a long career in Hollywood that garnered eight Academy Awards—more than any other woman in history.

Contents

Early life and career

She was born Edith Claire Posener in Searchlight, Nevada,[1] the daughter of Max Posener and Anna E. Levy. Her father was a mining engineer in the gold mine there. Whether her parents were married is unknown but, in 1901, her mother married Frank Spare and Edith was passed off as his child. Though her birth parents were Jewish, Head would claim to be a Catholic later in life.

She moved to San Bernardino, California at an early age. She received a BA in Spanish at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1918 and earned an MA in Romance Languages from Stanford University in 1920.[1] She became a Languages teacher (specializing in Spanish). Her first teaching position was at Bishop's School in La Jolla; but after one year she took a position teaching both Languages and Art at Hollywood School for Girls. To improve her drawing skills (which at this point were rudimentary) she took evening art classes at Chouinard Art College. On July 25, 1923, she married Charles Head, the brother of one of her Chouinard classmates, Betty Head. This marriage was short-lived, ultimately ending in divorce in 1936, after a number of years of separation, although she continued to be known professionally as Edith Head until her death.

In 1924, despite lacking art design or costume design experience, Head was hired as a costume sketch artist at Paramount Pictures in the costume department. Later Head admitted to borrowing another student's sketches for her job interview. She began designing costumes for silent films commencing with The Wanderer in 1925, and by the 1930s had established herself as one of Hollywood's leading costume designers. She worked at Paramount for 44 years until she went to Universal Pictures on March 27, 1967, possibly prompted by her extensive work for director Alfred Hitchcock, who had moved to Universal in 1960.

She married set designer Wiard Ihnen on September 8, 1940. Their marriage lasted until his death in 1979.

The Paramount years

During her long career she was nominated for 35 Academy Awards, including every year from 1948 through 1966, and won eight times – more Oscars than any other woman. She was responsible for some of the best-known Hollywood fashion images of her day, with her costumes being worn by the most glamorous and famous actresses in films. Head's influence on world fashion was far reaching, especially in the 1950s when she began appearing on Art Linkletter's television program and writing books on fashion.

Although Head was featured in studio publicity from the mid-1920s onward, she was originally over-shadowed by Paramount's Head Designer, first Howard Greer then Travis Banton. It was only after Banton's resignation in 1938 that she achieved fame as a designer in her own right. Her association with the "sarong" dress designed for Dorothy Lamour in The Hurricane made her well-known among the general public, albeit as a more restrained designer than either Banton or Adrian. In 1944 she gained public attention for the top mink-lined gown she was credited with designing for Ginger Rogers in Lady in the Dark, which gained notoriety as it was counter to the mood of wartime austerity. The institution of an Academy Award for Costume Designer in 1949 further boosted her career as it began her record breaking run of Award nominations and awards, beginning with her nomination for The Emperor Waltz.

Head was known for her low-key working style, and unlike many of her male contemporaries usually consulted extensively with the female stars she worked with. As a result she was a favorite designer for many of the leading female stars of the 1940s and 1950s: Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Shirley MacLaine, Anne Baxter, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor. Head was frequently 'loaned' out by Paramount to other studios at the request of their female stars. She was known for her restrained designs, and during the 1950s was dubbed the "queen of the shirtwaisters" by her detractors. However, it should be noted that this approach to costume design was in line with studio policy which did not want films (especially late release or re-released films) to become instantly dated through the use of short-lived costume fads. Despite this, or even because of this trait, she has been cited as one of Alfred Hitchcock's favorite costume designers and had a long association with Hal Wallis among others. Head had been famous for her work with Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday. She designed the costumes for many of the solo films of Jerry Lewis while he was at Paramount.

During her long career Head was occasionally criticized for her working methods. Early in her career she opposed the creation of a union to represent studio-based costume designers and outfitters, and she was accused of being "anti-union" on several occasions. Her design trademark of restraint on occasion brought her into conflict with the wishes of film stars or directors. Despite her own design accomplishments, she had a reputation for taking credit for others' work. However, this practice only became controversial in the latter part of her career, since in the era of studio-dominated film production, a department head commonly claimed credit for design work created in his or her department. Privately, she was a warm and loving hostess, hosting fabulous soirées at her Coldwater Canyon home.

The Universal years

In 1967, she left Paramount Pictures, and joined Universal Pictures, where she remained until her death in 1981. As studio-based feature film production declined, and many of her favoured stars retired, Head became more active as a television costume designer, often designing costumes for film actresses, like Olivia De Havilland, who were now involved in television series or film work. In 1974, Head enjoyed a final Oscar win for her work on The Sting.

During the late 1970s, Edith Head was asked to design a woman's uniform for the United States Coast Guard because of the increasing number of women in the Coast Guard. Head called the assignment a highlight in her career, and she was awarded the Meritorious Public Service Award for her efforts on behalf of the Coast Guard.[2] Also, during this period, her designs for a TV mini-series based on the novel Little Women were notable. Her last film project was the black and white comedy, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, starring Steve Martin and Carl Reiner, in which she accurately re-created fashions of the 1940s, matching the extensive use of film clips from classic film noir motion pictures. It was released shortly after her death and dedicated to her memory.

Head was a private person, well-illustrated by the dark sunglasses that became her trademark. Originally the lenses were blue, but later they were dark shades of gray. Originally, they were worn to see how the clothing would appear in black and white. The glasses and her unchanging hair style helped her to hide her true age. In the 1920s, she wore a Colleen Moore Dutch boy cut, but in the 1930s she noticed Anna May Wong's style and copied it: flat bangs with a chignon at the back. She would wear it for the rest of her life. These features and the consistency of her appearance over the decades helped make her an instantly recognised figure.

Death

Head died on October 24, 1981, four days before her 84th birthday, from a disease of the bone marrow.

Hollywood Walk of Fame

Edith Head has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6504 Hollywood Blvd.

Actresses designed for

Among the actresses Edith Head designed for were:

Oscar nominations

Guest appearances

Made brief appearance acting as herself in *Columbo: Requiem for a Falling Star (1973) as the clothing designer for Anne Baxter's character. Her Oscars were displayed on a desk in the scene.

Appeared as herself in Lucy Gallant in 1955 as emcee for a fashion show.

Posthumous references to Edith Head

As part of a series of stamps issued by the U.S. Postal Service in February 2003 commemorating the behind-the-camera personnel who make movies, Head appeared on an American postage stamp honoring costume design.

To many viewers of the 2004 Pixar/Disney computer-animated film The Incredibles, the personality and mannerisms of the film's fictional superhero costume designer Edna Mode suggest a colorful caricature of Edith Head. Edna Mode's sense of style, round glasses, and assertive no-nonsense character are very likely a direct homage to Head's legendary accomplishments and personal traits, but the film's director, Brad Bird, has not yet confirmed or denied this.[3]

The rock group They Might Be Giants made reference to her in a song called "She Thinks She's Edith Head".

In the animated television Futurama episode "That's Lobstertainment!", Edith Head was pictured as a head in a jar sitting in the front row at the Oscars.

Toronto neo-swing band Atomic 7 released an album called Gowns by Edith Head.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/edith-head/
  2. ↑ U.S. Coast Guard website
  3. ↑ "Who is the ''Incredibles'' fashion maven based on?", Entertainment Weekly
  • David Chierichetti (2003). Edith Head: The Life and Times of Hollywood's Celebrated Costume Designer. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-019428-6. 
  • John Duka. "Edith Head, Fashion Designer for the Movies, Dies." The New York Times. October 27, 1981.
  • Edith Head (1983). Edith Head's Hollywood. New York: Dutton. ISBN 0-525-24200-7. 
  • Edith Head and Jane Kesner Ardmore (1959). The Dress Doctor. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 999750030X. 
  • Edith Head with Joe Hyams (1967). How to Dress for Success. New York: Random House. LCCN 66012021. 

External links