Biography

Edith Head

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Edith was the chief costume designer for Universal Studios, having started her career as a sketch artist at Paramount. Sweet Charity was her 1,130th film. In the course of her career, she had 36 Oscar nominations of which she won eight. She wrote two books: The Dress Doctor and How to Dress For Success. In 1959, she was chosen as Woman of the Year by the Los Angeles Times.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tonyman5

Her 35 Oscar nominations and eight awards make her both the most honored costume designer and woman in Academy Award history to date.
The character "Edna Mode" in Disney/Pixar's The Incredibles (2004) was modeled on her.
Her trademark sunglasses were not real, but rather blue-lensed glasses. Looking through a blue glass was a common trick of costumers in the days of black and white film to get a sense of how a color would photograph. Edith had a pair of glasses made out of the proper shade of blue glass to save herself from looking through a single lens. Her friends commonly would see her in regular clear glasses.
The project she was most proud of was in the late 1970s when she designed a woman's uniform for the United States Coast Guard, in response to growing number of women in the service. She received the Meritorious Public Service Award for her efforts.
Extremely diplomatic, she went out of her way to get along with co-workers and rarely gossiped. In later interviews, however, she mentioned that she did not enjoy working with Mary Martin, Claudette Colbert or Hedy Lamarr. In Paulette Goddard's case, she thought it was insensitive for the glamorous star to bring her bulging jewelry boxes to the studio workroom and tell her seamstresses (who were working for minimum wage) that they could "look, but not touch".

I've designed films I've never seen.
If it is a Paramount film, I probably designed it.
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.
I have yet to see one completely unspoiled star, except for Lassie.
You can lead a horse to water and you can even make it drink, but you can't make actresses wear what they don't want to wear.

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