Designer profile - Edith Head

I plan to profile a 'designer of the past' each month, and the first I have chosen is Edith Head. Unlike designers working for fashion houses, Head made her name as an Oscar-winning designer of film costumes. Although her career started in the 1920s and ended in the 1970s, she is most often remembered for her work on 1950s films. It was in the 50s that Head designed costumes for Elizabeth Taylor, Rita Hayworth, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Sofia Loren.

For any Retrobride, Edith Head's dress designs for Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn are the ones to pick out. Both actresses liked Head's designs for them so much that they chose to wear Edith Head dresses to important events in their private lives. Audrey Hepburn wore a specially altered version of her 'Roman Holiday' Edith Head costume when she accepted her Oscar for the film in 1954, and Kelly chose to wear a blue satin Edith Head dress when she accepted her own Oscar in 1955.