Head, Edith, 1907–81, American costume designer, b. Los Angeles, Calif. She began to design costumes for the motion pictures in the early 1930s, working at Paramount for most of her career and moving to Universal in 1967. She won eight Academy Awards for a variety of films, including The Heiress (1949), All about Eve (1950), Samson and Delilah (1951), A Place in the Sun (1952), Roman Holiday (1954), and The Sting (1973). She was responsible for such classic bits of costumery as Mae West's ostrich feathers, Dorothy Lamour's sarongs, and Audrey Hepburn's Sabrina necklines.

Bibliography

See her autobiography, Fashion as a Career (1966); biography by D. Chierichetti (2003).

Head, Edith

(born Oct. 28, 1897, San Bernardino, Calif., U.S.—died Oct. 24, 1981, Hollywood, Calif.) U.S. costume designer. She became chief designer at Paramount Pictures in 1933 and later worked at Universal. Hollywood's best-known designer, she was noted for the wide range of her costumes, from the elegantly simple to the elaborately flamboyant. She won a record eight Academy Awards for her work in films such as All About Eve (1950), Roman Holiday (1953), and The Sting (1973).

Head, Edith (1907–81) costume designer; born in Los Angeles, Calif. Educated at the University of California: Los Angeles and Stanford University, she taught languages and art before joining Paramount studios during the 1930s. She was head designer there until 1967, when she moved to Universal. As Hollywood's best-known designer, she worked on dozens of movies, including She Done Him Wrong (1933), All About Eve (1948), A Place in the Sun (1951), The Ten Commandments (1956), The Sting (1973), and The Big Fix (1978). She received eight Academy Awards for her costumes.