Edith Head: Hollywood’s Costume Designer
Season 1, Episode 003
Images courtesy of OKCMOA
In This Episode
Episode Description:
There’s a good chance you’ve seen her name emblazoned on screen for at least a few of the hundreds of opening titles that bear her name. Considered one of film history’s great costume designers, Edith Head began working for Paramount in 1924. Head made history as the first female head of a major studio's costume department in 1938, when designer Travis Banton left Paramount. The establishment of the Academy Award for Costume Design in 1949 helped further introduce costume designers to the general public and led to a record-breaking run of nominations and wins for Head. In pop culture, she’s been referenced across film and television. She’s been a stamp and a Google doodle, but perhaps the biggest tribute to Edith Head is the character Edna Mode, the superhero costume designer in Pixar’s The Incredibles.
The exhibition Edith Head: Hollywood’s Costume Designer is organized by The Oklahoma City Museum of Art and presented by The Ann Lacy Foundation. The Head-focused retrospective features 70 costumes that capture Head’s expansive career. Worn by stars such as Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Veronica Lake, and Barbara Stanwyck, the costumes represent a broad look at the designs and silhouettes of one of the premiere designers of golden age Hollywood. The homegrown exhibition takes up the museum’s entire third floor, where costumes and sketches showcase Head’s life and work. In this episode of Classic Movie Club, OKCMOA Curatorial Assistant Kristen Pignuolo joins Film Review to share insights about the exhibit and the career of a Hollywood icon.
Resources
Additional Notes:
Music: Hollywood Hop, Earl Hines and His New Sound Orchestra (LA, Jul, 1954)
CC0 1.0 UniversalCreative Commons License
