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"What day is it? - 'It's today' - squeaked Piglet. 'My favourite day' - said Pooh."- A.A. Milne

23 February 2013

A Head for Hollywood Glamour-The Sketches of Edith Head

                                                                                    Via
 "You Can Have Anything You want in Life If you Dress for it"-Edith Head

Oscar Night used to be so much fun, but in recent years the show stretches on and the films you care about are few and far between.  As for the glamour, there are very few "real" stars these days and they float by  quickly.  That isn't to say I won't watch what strolls down that carpet but on and off screen Hollywood just doesn't sparkle like I think it should.

Grace Kelly- To Catch a Thief via
In the 1930s, 40s, and 50s,however, Hollywood set the standard with costumes that were as much a part of the film as the actors who played the parts.  You simply cannot imagine To Catch a Thief without Grace Kelly in that gown that made Cary Grant melt.  "Gowns by Edith Head" was perhaps the most common film credit to appear on any film roll in those decades.   Edith Head designed for every major star-Grace Kelly, Bette Davis, Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, Paul Newman, James Dean, Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant... Working on over 400 films, very often with Hitchcock, and nominated for an Oscar for an unmatched 35 times -every year from 1948-1966, her Paramount years, winning 8 Academy Awards including her last in 1967 for The Sting dressing Paul Newman and Robert Redford-now that's not bad work! 

Martha Hyer -Houseboat    via                                         Elizabeth Taylor- A Place in the Sun  via

Kim Novak Vertigo via
This was a period of American film that became the definition of Hollywood-style,elegance,glamour,sophistication...and Edith Head brought it all to her designs that remain as intrinsic to the characters she dressed as the lines they spoke-and in many instances far more memorable.



Grace Kelly, Rear Window via

Edith Head's sketches came to life on the screen but they are all pieces of Classic Hollywood style that stand on their own as a part of the history of American film and American fashion.


 "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"---Edith Head   via


Grace Kelly, To Catch a Thief via


Audrey Hepburn- Funny Face via
So I am celebrating Oscar Night with some of my favorite Edith Head designs...

Tippi Hedren-The Birds    via                                                        Shirley Maclaine -Sweet Charity via

...Sketches for some of the most classic roles, portrayed by the silver screen's most glamorous women-designs that would become iconic looks and everlasting Hollywood style.

Grace Kelly- Rear Window   via                                         Bette Davis- All About Eve  via


Audrey Hepburn-Breakfast at Tiffanys via


Audrey Hepburn -Roman Holiday  via

                 You may see lots of fabulous and lots of horrific on the Red Carpet this Oscar Night but on the screen there will sadly never be the entrances that the gowns Edith Head sketched made-gowns  that remain a part of why I love classic film.