Edith Head

This year’s Oscars are just around the corner and to mark the occasion we're celebrating one of Hollywood's most influential talents, a most fashionable woman who made screen stars into style icons and who won a grand total of eight Academy Awards – Edith Head.
Costume designer Edith dressed some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, creating both style icons and iconic outfits – a sort of Patricia Field of her day but bigger, better and even more glamorous. She was employed in 1924 as a sketch artist at the renowned Paramount Studios, designing costumes underneath head designers Howard Greer and Travis Banton. Then, in 1938 she was put in charge of the department and swiftly went about building her stellar reputation.
She was beloved by actresses for her ability to dress them in clothes that smoothed over their lumps and bumps and made the most of their assets, transforming them effortlessly into screen starlets. She took pride in working in collaboration with the actresses – Mae West famously told her, ‘My dresses must be loose enough to prove that I am a lady and tight enough to show that I’m a woman,’ – and Edith delivered. The list of those who she created costumes for reads like a who’s who of Hollywood greats - Bette Davis, Ginger Rogers, Shirley McClain, Ingrid Bergman, Audrey Hepburn and more all benefited from her keen eye and sense of style. She worked very closely with Alfred Hitchcock and you can thank her for the signature style of his blonde bombshell heroines.
The result of all her hard work was an incredible 35 Oscar nominations for movies such as Funny Face, Roman Holiday, The Man Who Would Be King and The Sting, and the more wins than any other woman in history.
Edith’s personal style was as memorable as the costumes she created, with her signature hairstyle – an of-the-moment fringe and chignon at the back - and dark glasses that were rarely removed. So iconic was her look, in fact, that she inspired the character of Edna Mode in The Incredibles.