Tag: edith head

Heard Of Edith?


Two of my favorite Grace Kelly moments, the Rear Window and To Catch A Thief had costumes designed by Edith Head. If you haven’t seen them already, you ought to.

Edith Head, a languages ((Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian, and Catalan) teacher started off as a sketch artist and went on to become one of the leading costume designers of her time. During her career, she won eight Oscars, was nominated all of thirty-five times and created some major cinematic-fashion moments.

Edith Head (Far Left) And Grace Kelly In ‘Rear Window‘ (Centre, Far Right)


Grace Kelly In ‘To Catch A Thief

An understated and restrained designer, she shot to fame with the “sarong dress” that Dorothy Lamar wore in The Hurricane and a mink-lined (the times were different then) gown that Ginger Rogers wore in Lady In The Dark. In her career, she dressed some of the biggest movie-stars of the time like Sophia Loren, Ingrid Bergman, Gloria Swanson, Rita Hayworth and Tippi Hedren among others. Edith had long working relationships with actresses and directors and in fact worked on many Hitchcock films… When Alfred Hitchcock moved from Paramount to Universal, so did she.

Of course, she had her share of controversies but none that took away from the beautiful ensembles she created for the movies she worked in.

L To R: Bette Davis In ‘All About Eve‘, Elizabeth Taylor In ‘A Place In The Sun‘, Doris Day In ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much‘, Anne Baxter In ‘The Ten Commandments‘ And Kim Novak In ‘Vertigo

Edith Head had this signature look, bangs, a tight chignon and round glasses. She never took those glasses off! And if you care for trivia… She at first wore ’em to see how clothes would look in a black-and-movie, later they just became a part of the persona. What’s that, more trivia you say… Fine, did you know in the animated movie The Incredibles, Edna was modeled on Edith Head? 🙂

Edna, The Incredibles

And seriously, if you haven’t seen Rear Window and To Catch A Thief, go see it now.

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