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Edith Head

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Designing A

Hollywood Legend

By Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher

Left: Sketch for Elizabeth Taylors role in A Place In The Sun
Right: Edith Head getting star on the walk of fame in 1974

“Accentuate the positive and camouflage the rest,”
… words legendary designer Edith Head lived by.

t barely five feet tall, Hollywood Today, Edith Head is considered one of the greatest and most
Costume Designer Edith Head influential costume designers in film history, her work is instantly
A(October 28, 1897 – October ecognized for its association with some of the greatest movies of the
24, 1981) was a giant in her field. She mid-20th century.
was also a recognizable personality in
her own right thanks to her distinctive Stitching Together a Hollywood Career
look of severe bangs, signature round
dark glasses, and two-piece suits. In Edith Claire Posener was born
fact, Head’s personal style was so in San Bernardino, California, in
memorable and quirky that she was 1897 and raised in the mining
used as the inspiration for the Disney town of Searchlight, Nevada.
cartoon character Edna Mode, the Edith Head was as American as
costume designer in The Incredibles. the Hollywood films she worked
For over a half-century, from the on. She once said of her child-
1930s to the 1970s, Head’s designs hood, “I didn’t have what you
defined and influenced American would call an artistic or cultural
fashion as seen in the movies, and was
Edith Head publicity still for background. We lived in the
Paramount Pictures known to have dressed virtually every desert and we had burros and
top female star in Hollywood. She is jackrabbits and things like that.”
credited with crafting wardrobes for such stars as Grace Kelly, Tippi In 1919, Edith received a
Hedren, Bette Davis, and Elizabeth Taylor, and for designing Audrey Bachelor of Arts degree in letters
Hepburn’s iconic look in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, along with dress designer and sciences with honors in
Hubert de Givenchy. Her work, however, was not limited to just Edith Head and her second French from the University of
women. Head also designed wardrobes for such dashing leading men as husband Wiard Ihnen California, Berkeley, and in 1920
Cary Grant, Paul Newman, and Steve McQueen, to name a few. earned a Master of Arts degree in romance languages from Stanford
Whether designing for black-and-white or color, Head was known University. She started her career teaching French and Spanish at
for using a rainbow of hues to set the mood. When Technicolor private schools but quickly became bored, wanting to teach art instead,
emerged, Head dressed Ginger Rogers in a dazzling ruby gown for Lady despite not having formal training. To improve her rudimentary
in the Dark and outfitted Rosemary Clooney in bold turquoise drawing skills, Head began taking evening classes at the Otis Art
for White Christmas. Surprisingly, Head only liked to wear four colors Institute and Chouinard Art College in Los Angeles.
herself: black, white, According to her 1981 obituary in The New York Times, Head
beige, and brown. answered a want ad for a sketch artist at Paramount in 1923. “In a
telling example of the ambition for which she was known, Miss Head
Vera-Ellen “Judy Haynes” Edith took to the interview a portfolio of work that was not hers but which
Head Costume Sketch from she had borrowed from fellow students in a drawing class. Even though
White Christmas (Paramount, Howard Greer, then chief designer at Paramount, discovered the ruse,
1954). Vintage original costume he hired her anyway and Miss Head’s career began.”
sketch accomplished in gouache That same year, 1923, Edith Posener married Charles Head, the
and ink on 14” x 16.75” artist’s brother of one of her Chouinard classmates, Betty Head. Although the
paper leaf by legendary costume marriage ended in divorce in 1938 after several years of separation, she
designer Edith Head. Designed continued to be known professionally as Edith Head until her death. In
for and worn by Vera-Ellen in 1940 she married award-winning art director Wiard Ihnen, a marriage
the classic holiday film. This
instantly recognizable costume which lasted until his death in 1979.
was featured on all posters and Over the next decade, Head toiled away on the back lots of
advertisements for the film’s Paramount honing her craft under her various mentors, Howard Greer,
initial release and subsequent and his successor, Travis Banton, but it was her design of Dorothy
re-releases. This drawing sold Lamour’s trademark sarong in the 1936 film The Jungle Princess, that
for $6,875 at Heritage auctions captured Hollywood’s attention and sparked a national fashion trend.
in July 2022. That sarong also put Head on the fast track at Paramount.

22 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles