The Fashions and Costume Designs from the 1940’s to 1960’s
Nowadays, when most of us see a movie on the big screen, we have been conditioned to remain in the theater while the closing credits role. Film producers have finally managed to keep the audience in the theater, reading through the final credits, by adding clips of goofs or upcoming scenes from future movies. We’re presented with an encyclopedic resume of everyone and anyone who had a hand in making the movie, while we patiently wait and wait for that special scene.
Years ago, closing credits were definitely shorter. Back then, the only reason, I read closing credits was to find out who was the Costume Designer. I was intrigued by a name that repeatedly found its way into the closing credits of many of those old movies: Edith Head1. I wasn’t the only one. Homemakers desired sewing patterns similar to what was shown on the big screen and eventually television.
Edith Head began her career as a French teacher for The Hollywood School for Girls. She later agreed to teach the art class upon request and only drew oceans! Solution: she began taking art classes at night and taught art during the day. In the mid-1920’s, she desired a better income, so she decided that she wanted to work in a studio costume department. Talk about ‘fake it until you make it’, Edith Head started as a costume sketch artist and still couldn’t draw the human form. For her initial interview, a few of her artist friends let her borrow theirsketches. Edith later recalled, “I was studying seascapes and all I could draw was oceans. I needed a portfolio, so I borrowed sketches – I didn’t steal them, I asked everybody in the class for a few costume design sketches. And I had the most fantastic assortment you’ve ever seen in your life. When you get a class of forty to give you sketches, you get a nice selection.”2She was hired on the spot and began to work for Paramount Pictures. When head costume designer, Howard Greer found out about her lack of drawing ability, he became her mentor and helped Edith learn how to draw fashion using his methods.
Thus, her real career began at Paramount Pictures and worked with nearly all the top Hollywood stars for 43 years. At Edith’s urging, in 1948 that the Academy Awards created a Costume Designer category. Edith Head won a record eight Academy Awards for Best Costume Design, starting with The Heiress (1949) and ending with The Sting (1973).She eventually partnered with Alfred Hitchcock and started working in television for Universal.
Quotes:
“You can do anything you want in life if you dress for it.” –Edith Head
“While other designers were busy starring their clothes in a film, Edith was making clothes to suit a character and for her, the character always came first.” – Bette Davis
