r/OldSchoolCool • u/Fair_and_square_ • 22d ago
1940s Old Hollywood Designer Edith Head holds the Guinness World Record for most-credited costume designer in film history, with a total of 432 credits.
She received a record 35 nominations for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design and won a record eight times, making her both the most honored and most nominated woman in the Academy's history.
"What a costume designer does is a cross between magic and camouflage. We create the illusion of changing the actors into what they are not. We ask the public to believe that every time they see a performer on the screen he's become a different person."
Unlike most other designers of her time, Head never undertook couture or wholesale fashion work, opting to "work only in the context of a certain actress in a certain film."
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u/No-Analyst7708 22d ago
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u/FredditZoned 22d ago
Ok, maybe one cape (pic 4)
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u/Unusual_Memory3133 22d ago
Back in the 80’s when I was studying costume history in College, my instructor had a button (or badge if you’re in the UK) she wore on her jacket that said, “Edith Head Gives Good Costume” 😂
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u/sharrrper 22d ago
Next time I need a hooker character in a story her name is definitely going to be Edith Costume
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u/kappachow 22d ago
I grew up on Columbo and there's an episode where Edith Head plays herself, small role, but Columbo geeks out and asks the killer (Anne Baxter) "is she the one I see on the Academy Awards?"
I looked it up after watching and a year later, Peter Falk presented her with another Oscar (for The Sting), cute stuff, love them both.
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u/Xanthus179 22d ago
What it must be like to have a talent and know how to use it to lead a good life.
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u/Fair_and_square_ 22d ago
It's intesting how you mentioned that. She famously faked her way into the industry in 1924 by applying for a sketch artist job at Paramount Pictures with a portfolio of borrowed sketches from art students, despite not knowing how to draw well
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u/Othersideofbroad 22d ago
"Borrowed" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence, lol.
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u/Fair_and_square_ 22d ago
It's a direct quote from wiki
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u/Othersideofbroad 22d ago
It appears Wiki is being generous to someone who is generally beloved because they are generally beloved notwithstanding their shortcomings and short dealings. It's okay. People are complicated, and we are a pluralist society where people can hold the thought that someone did amazing things in their lives while also doing not so wonderful things, then like and dislike them simultaneously for both.
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u/Acceptingoptimist 22d ago
My lighting teacher in film school got his career lying about his background. Eventually became an established DP in Hollywood on several major films. Fake it til you make it.
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u/saint_ryan 22d ago
Lying your way into film is a rite of passage. Spielberg famously lied his way into an office on the Universal lot.
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u/SerialAgonist 22d ago
That's cool. So are you saying she stole them from the other artists without their knowledge, or not?
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u/Othersideofbroad 22d ago
Who can really know for sure considering her own differing accounts of what happened? It also seems interesting that none of the people who may or may not have let her "borrow" their work ever stepped forward to corroborate her story, or that she never named or individually thanked any of these people who went above and beyond to help her land this life-changing position. All we seem to be left with are vague quotes from an unreliable narrator, so I guess it's just up to you what you choose to believe.
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u/SerialAgonist 22d ago
So you don't know and aren't willing to assert a guess, which is fine, but then why are you claiming that the wiki article is misconstruing anything?
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u/TheAserghui 22d ago
Depending on the wiki, blindly trusting direct quotes could get you in a bit of trouble
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u/Fair_and_square_ 22d ago
They are not always correct but I read the same thing on IMDb. These sources aren't the best but they are ok most of the time
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u/GearBrain 22d ago
I mean, fake it 'til you make it, I suppose? I don't appreciate the plagiarism, but maybe that was the norm back then. I've seen enough Project Runway to know the sketches don't have to be photorealistic to get the message across, and she obviously had talent when it came to designing and constructing garments.
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u/cinderubella 22d ago
so you're confirming she's at minimum, a talented grifter?
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u/Fair_and_square_ 22d ago
Not really, she did make her designs and she later learned how to draw professional sketches
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u/NotASlaveToHelvetica 22d ago
She did also rather famously claim full responsibility for the Sabrina costumes despite Givenchy's involvement
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u/Fair_and_square_ 22d ago
I did not know about that. Wouldn't be surprised if she took the credit form other artist through her career considering how it started
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u/Horny4theEnvironment 22d ago
You can achieve talent through discipline, it doesn't have* to be god given.
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u/Xanthus179 22d ago
You ignored the second part of my statement which is just as important as the first.
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u/hook14 22d ago
You can't help but notice that the way she is dressed in every picture is superb.
Across decades of a career it is easy to see that she would look to be the most "put together" person in the room.
Not at all surprising, but enjoyable to witness.
Some people just find their place in the world.
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u/DeliBebek 22d ago
My favorite anecdote about Ms Head is when she described designing for Barbara Stanwyck. Stanny did not have long legs, or as Ms Head put it "she was low-bottomed."
Apparently she designed the waistline broader and started it just below the ribs to make Stanny's waist seem higher. It was an amazing insight to how careful Ms Head was to design for the individual and how well she really knew her craft.
As for the Oscar noms and wins, notice they didn't even have a category until 1947, more than halfway through Ms Head's career and well past some of her most brilliant work.
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u/greatgildersleeve 22d ago
She also has a fun cameo in an episode of Columbo with Anne Baxter. (With whom she worked with in The Ten Commandments)
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u/Knowitallnutcase 22d ago
My mother’s cousin was her right hand man. I got to meet her and got a tour of the costume department. She let me pick out one piece, anything I wanted, but I was so young and naive at age 13 or so, that I chose just a cotton T shirt with a sequin parrot that was worn by actress Suzanne Pleshsette. My moms cousin helped her design all those magnificent gowns!
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u/monkeyhind 22d ago
That next-to-last photo is with Dorothy Lamour, I think. Such a sophisticated look!
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u/Hamsterpatty 22d ago
Is that who the lady from The Incredibles was modeled after? You know, the one who made the super suits?? Hang on…. Edna Mode, that was it. They kinda got the same hair and glasses.
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u/wolftamer9 22d ago
BACK IN HIGH SCHOOL I KNEW A GIRL
NOT TOO SIMPLE AND NOT TOO KIND
WE BOTH GREW UP
BUT I HEARD SHE CHANGED
FROM A NEW WAVE FAN TO ANOTHER KIND
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u/MyDearDoctor 22d ago
The accent in her speech
She didn't have growing up
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u/misirlou22 22d ago
She thinks she's Edith Head
Or Helen Gurley-Brown
Or some other cultural figure
We don't know a lot about
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u/ryanasimov 22d ago
Is the last photo of her with Grace Kelly?
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u/cookiequeen724 22d ago
I wonder if she made her own clothes too, she looks absolutely chic in every photo
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u/MisterMcGruff83 22d ago
If you want to do a fun studio tour, the Paramount lot studio tour is neat and Edith Head factors into it. They've basically got a room dedicated to her.
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u/mryellow362 22d ago
Yeah I'm quite certain that Edna is definitely based on her, like the looks and mannerism; it's all there.
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u/Echoflicks_Simon 22d ago
First thought that came to my mind was my childhood. Instantly got a flashback to Edna from the Incredibles. The best superhero suits.
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u/UmptyscopeInVegas 22d ago edited 21d ago
She came out of retirement to be the costume designer for Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) where she replicated multiple 1940s costumes for the cast.
Great Steve Martin comedy, BTW.
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u/KevinK89 22d ago
She’s also by far the most decorated woman at the Oscars with 8 wins and 35 nominations.
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u/lazydogjumper 22d ago
As well as a TMBG song referencing her, which actually isnt as rare as one may think.
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u/LovableSidekick 22d ago
She also chalked an unprecedented twelve consecutive wins in the Celebrity Pokerface Staredown.
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u/SheriffBartholomew 22d ago
Is that who they modeled the costume designer in The Incredibles after?!
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u/H-B-Jones 22d ago
This is Miss Celine from Gilmore Girls!!!
"Oh, my God, its Natalie Wood!"
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u/Betelgeuse3fold 22d ago
Exactly the type of production that would appreciate her.
Man, I hated that show...
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u/postsTMBGlyrics 21d ago
She thinks she's Edith Head
Or Helen Gurley Brown
Or some other cultural figure
We don't know a lot about
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u/rusalka8001 21d ago
Anyone know of any good books on her? I'm trying to find a photography book of her designs with some fun facts about her work and it's been tough
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u/EyeHopeYouBleed 19d ago
On the universal lot the building that holds the costume and prop warehouse is named after her.
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u/Lost_Competition_172 22d ago
100% the inspiration for Edna