Glamour Puss

Edith Head

Today is eight-time Oscar winning costume designer Edith Head’s 116^th birthday, and I’d like to chat about glamour.  I’m a huge old movie fan.  I adore the old school glamour and melodrama, the scenery chewing of divas like Susan Hayward and Joan Crawford.  I gobble up the preposterous plots, gorgeous gowns and perfectly tailored ladylike suits.  

Ms. Head draped us in romance and allure in many classic films:  “All About Eve,” “Roman Holiday,” “Sunset Boulevard,” and “Rear Window” to name a few.  One of my favorite Edith Head designs is the breathtaking white strapless gown that she conceived for the 1951 film “A Place in the Sun.”  Elizabeth Taylor floated on that cloud of a dress and every aspiring prom queen that year wanted a knockoff of it.

Okay, now think about actors.  Could you get any sexier than Redford's and Newman's suits in “The Sting?”  Yep, Edith Head did that.  

I miss glamour.  Instead of cringing over stripped down looks or the stripper aesthetic I want to swoon over an impossibly beautiful gown or a sophisticated silhouette.  Where are the garments that make me want to kick up my heels?  

I kan’t kount on a Kardashian!

Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift in "A Place in the Sun"