Edith Head : From Costume Designer to Fashion Expert

• Costume designer Edith Head has become a symbol of Hollywood costume designers. With more than 50 years of career designing for the big screen, her iconic look has inspired several characters that pay homage to her legacy. Edith Head started her career in 1924 as Howard Greer’s assistant. Without any background in drawing or costume design, Head rapidly ascended to head of the costume department in 1937, when Travis Banton left Paramount and join Howard Greer in his Beverly Hills fashion atelier. Scholars have presented her career as a linear story of costume design success, focusing mostly on her time at Paramount Pictures and basing arguments onHead’s own media declarations. However, Head’s media appearances and the widespread popularity as a public persona demonstrate that a large part of her work for the studio rested on being a promoter by exploiting her role as a mediator of fashion discourses for female audiences. Head used the looks of the stars to educate women into finding “their type” and showed them how to adapt screen looks for real-life situations. This paper looks at the role of Edith Head as a cultural translator of fashion, guiding American woman into the meaning of style and femininity in post-war America, by focusing on Head’s radio segments, books, and her work as the Academy Awards fashion consultant. The presentation will demonstrate that Head was a key PR figure for the studio and that this strategy also worked on her favor to perpetuate her position in the job market after the demise of the studio system.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Konst -- Filmvetenskap (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Arts -- Studies on Film (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Edith Head

Costume designer

cultural translator

dress

fashion

costume

media

modevetenskap

Fashion Studies

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

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