"EDITH HEAD: OLD HOLLYWOOD'S QUEEN OF FASHION" (093)

EPISODE 93 -  6/23/25

With eight Academy Awards to her name — more than any other woman in history — EDITH HEAD wasn't just a costume designer; she was a storyteller in fabric, silhouette, and sparkle. From BETTE DAVIS to GRACE KELLY to AUDREY HEPBURN, she dressed the biggest stars of the silver screen, leaving an indelible mark on both fashion and film. In this episode, we explore how a shy schoolteacher became the most powerful woman in Hollywood wardrobes, her collaborations with iconic directors like Alfred Hitchcock, and how her designs helped shape characters, define eras, and influence fashion far beyond the studio lot. So, slip into something fabulous, and let’s step behind the curtain into the life and legacy of the great Edith Head.

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources:

Dressing Up The Stars: The Story of Movie Costume Designer Edith Head (12022), by Jeanne Walker Harvey; 

Edith Head: The 50 Year Career of Hollywood’s Greatest Costume Designer (2010), by Jay Jorgensen;

Edith Head: The Life and Times of Hollywood’s Celebrated Costume Designer (2003), by David Chierichetti;

Edith Head’s Hollywood (1983), by Edith Head;

The Dress Doctor (1959), by Edith Head;

“How To Dress For the Oscars,” February 11, 2015, ⁠www.oscars.com⁠;

Wikipedia.com;

TCM.com;

IBDB.com;

IMDBPro.com;

Movies Mentioned: 

Wings (1927);

The Saturday Night Kid (1929);

Love Me Tonight (1932);

She Done Him Wrong (1933);

Little Miss Marker (1934);

Rhythm on the Range (1936);

College Holiday (1936);

The Jungle Princess (1936);

Internes Can’t Take Money (1937);

The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938);

Thanks for the Memories (1938);

Mad about Music (1938);

Dangerous To Know (1938); 

Beau Geste (1939);

Remember the Night (1939);

The Cat and the Canary (1939); 

The Lady Eve (1941);

Sullivan’s Travels (1941);

The Glass Key (1942);

I Married a Witch (1942);

Star Spangled Rhythm (1942);

Hold That Blonde (1945);

The Blue Dahlia (1946);

Holiday Inn (1942);

The Uninvited (1944);

Double Indemnity (1944);

Incendiary Blonde (1945);

To Each His Own (1946);

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946);

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1949);

The Great Gatsby (1949); 

Notorious (1946);

The Emperor’s Waltz (1948);

The Heiress (1949);

All About Eve (1950);

Sunset Boulevard (1950);

Samson & Delilah (1949);

A Place in the Sun (1951);

Roman Holiday (1953);

Sabrina (1954); 

Funny Face (1957);

Rear Window (1954);

To Catch a Thief (1955);

The Trouble With Harry (1955);

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956);

Vertigo (1958);

Ace In the Hole (1951);

The Greatest Show on Earth (1952);

Shane (1953);

White Christmas (1954); 

The Rose Tattoo (1955);

The Rainmaker (1956);

The Ten Commandments (1957);

Loving You (1958);

The Pink Panther (1963);

A Shot In the Dark (1964);

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1963);

Love With the Proper Stranger (1963);

Sex and the Single Girl (1964);

Inside Daisy Clover (1965);

The Great Race (1965); 

Penelope (1966);

This Property is Condemned (1966);

G.I. Blues (1960); 

Blue Hawaii (1961); 

Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962); 

Fun In Acapulco (1963); 

Roustabout (1964);

Paradise Hawaiian Style (1966);

What a Way to Go! (1964);

Sweet Charity (1969);

Summer and Smoke (1961); 

Hud (1963);

The Birds (1963);

Harlow (1965);

Barefoot in the Park (1967);

Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid (1969);

Topaz (1969);

Airport (1970);

Airport ‘75 (1974);

Airport ‘77 (1977);

Myra Breckenridge (1970);

Lady Sings The Blues (1972);

The Sting (1974);

The Great Waldo Pepper (1975);, 

The Man Who Would Be King (1976); 

Family Plot (1976);

Gable and Lombard (1976);

W.C. Fields and Me (1976);

Rooster Cogburn (1975);

Sextette (1978);

Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982);

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