Glossary

- Edith Head (1897 - 1981) : Edith Head was born Edith Claire Posener on October 28, 1897 in San Bernadino, California. Edith Head was a fashion legend in her own time. She is probably the most famous costume designer i

n Hollywood history. She was mostly famous for her work on costumes for movies. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and received a Masters Degree in Romance Languages from Stanford University in 1920. Edith Spare taught French and, despite her lack of experience in the subject, art at the Hollywood School for Girls. She enrolled in night classes at Otis Art Institute and Chouinard, where she met and married Charles Head, and became forever Edith Head.

Her career spanned fifty-eight (58) years of movie making and in those years she dressed almost every major star who shone in the industry and, with her straight-cut bangs, dark glasses and tailored suits as her trademark, became more famous than most of them.

Head began as an assistant costume designer in the Hollywood of the 1920's.

In 1933, she made the transition from sketcher to full-fledged designer and set about learning everything she could from her boss, Travis Banton.

In 1938, as her first marriage was ending, Edith Head replaced Travis Banton and was suddenly the top designer at one of Hollywood's biggest studios. She kept the post until 1967 when Paramount was sold and she moved to Universal Studios.

In 1974, the Hollywood recognized the petite designer in with her own star on Hollywood Boulevard, an honor she had indeed earned.

"Gowns by Edith Head" was one of the most-seen motion picture credits of the 20th century. She eventually became the preeminent costume designer of Hollywood's golden age and in her six (6) decades of costume design, she worked on 1,131 motion pictures earning eight (8) Oscars and received over 30 nominations during her career. Head had a long professional relationship with Alfred Hitchcock, designing the costumes for most of his features: she dressed Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant for Notorious (1946), and Grace Kelly and Grant for To Catch a Thief (1955). Her other films include Beau Geste (1939), Sunset Boulevard (1950), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) and Sometimes a Great Notion (1971).

In addition to her film work, she designed Vogue sewing patterns; toured the country staging Hollywood fashion shows; wrote magazine and newspaper columns; was America's favorite fashion maven on Art Linkletter's House Party; wrote two books, including The Dress Doctor (with Joan Kesner Ardmore; Little, Brown and Co., 1959) and How to Dress for Success (with Joe Hyams; Random House, 1967); and audiotaped hours of interviews in preparation for her autobiography, Edith Head's Hollywood (E.P. Dutton Inc.), co-authored by Paddy Calistro, and published posthumously in 1983.

In 1981, Edith Head died of a progressive and rare blood disease, myeloid metaplasia. Head's last film was the Steve Martin comedy Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, which was released after her death in 1982. She left her estate to the Motion Picture and Television Fund and to other charitable organizations aiding Native American children and her beloved animals. Hollywood's stars but also the backlot people attended her funeral.

My favorite! Her hairstyle and signature round glasses and tailored suits. I always like women sporting very short hair and when I was a teenager, I also wore a round-shaped glasses. Edith Head is simply beautiful!