How Costume Designer Edith Head Became Hollywood’s ‘Dress Doctor’ for Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor and More

In 1924, Edith Head arrived at the film studio which would become Paramount Pictures to interview for a costume sketch artist job. She clutched a portfolio of drawings and paintings borrowed from her fellow art class students because she wasn’t confident in her own abilities.

“Struck dumb with admiration for anyone with such diverse talents, I hired the gal on the spot,” recalled chief designer Howard Greer in his memoir.

Even after Edith confessed her ruse the next day, Howard kept her on, displaying his excellent instincts. Over the next five decades, Edith would become the greatest costume designer Hollywood would ever know, with a whopping 35 Oscar nominations and an impressive eight wins.

In her lifetime, Edith would dress everyone from Mae West and Dorothy Lamour to Jane Fonda and Steve Martin. At the studio, the barely five-foot designer, who became the first female head of costuming in 1938, took pains to not overshadow the stars.

Her typical work style consisted of a nondescript skirt suit, severe bangs and the blue-toned sunglasses she began wearing early in her career when she needed a sense of how an outfit would appear in a black and white film. Edith also gracefully navigated the fine line between the demands of studio honchos and the egos of stars. “I’ve been a confirmed fence-sitter,’’ she said. “That’s why I’ve been around so long.”

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Another reason she thrived is that she didn’t pander to fashion trends. She eschewed patterned fabrics for fear that they would look dated by the time a film opened. Instead, she created timeless classics like Grace Kelly’s airy chiffons in Rear Window, Elizabeth Taylor’s romantic white dress in A Place in the Sun and Gloria Swanson’s cascading black nightdress in Sunset Boulevard. The hours she spent with actresses in fittings created strong bonds too.

Edith asked what people liked to wear and what they felt good in. “Accentuate the positive and camouflage the rest,” said the costumer, who earned the nickname The Dress Doctor. Edith was often “loaned out” to other studios because an actress had demanded her services.

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Grace Kelly became such a close friend that Edith assumed she’d be asked to create the gown for her 1956 nuptials. But MGM studios, who had Grace under contract, understood the publicity the dress would attract, and insisted their designer Helen Rose do the honors. MGM also paid for the gown and a suit Helen designed for the civil ceremony, making it even harder to say no. A disappointed Edith created the light gray suit Grace wore to depart for her honeymoon.

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Edith proved just as skillful at publicity as she was at design. In 1955, she appeared as a contestant on You Bet Your Life. She also authored two books on fashion, The Dress Doctor and How to Dress for Success. “Don’t dress too different,” she advised readers. “You don’t want to dress like the herd, but you don’t want to look like a peacock in a yard full of ducks.” In her later years, the designer, whose second marriage to set designer Wiard Ihnen lasted 39 years, relocated to Universal Studios. In addition to costumes for films, she worked in TV and created uniforms for Pan Am flight attendants and tour guides at the United Nations.