EDITH HEAD
The fabulous Ms. Edith Head was as American costume designer who won more Academy Awards than any other woman in history (won 8, nominated for 35). Head received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Letters and Sciences with Honors in French from the University of California Berkeley in 1919. She then received her Masters Degree in Romance Languages from Stanford University in 1920. Head became a language teacher in La Jolla. In wanting a higher salary she told the school that she was also a qualified art teacher. Head began taking evening classes to improve her drawing skills. In 1924 despite her lack of experience in art and costume design (in fact she borrowed drawings for the interview) she was hired as a costume sketch artist at Paramount Pictures. She began designing for silent films in 1925. By 1930 Head was established as one of Hollywood's hottest costume designers. Head worked at Paramount for 43 years until 1967, when she moved to Universal. Head was known for her low key work style (she was one of Alfred Hitchcock's favorites) and for consulting extensively with the female starletts she was dressing. Head designed for some of the biggest female stars of the 40's and 50's: Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn (Roman Holiday, Sabrina), Shirley MacLaine, Elizabeth Taylor, Natalie Wood, Ginger Rogers and Bette Davis. Edith Head's name is now synonymous with Classic American Cinema (Sunset Boulevard, Rear Window, The Birds).
DAISY FELLOWES
The 'Notorious Mrs. Daisy Fellowes' was born in Paris in 1890. Fellowes' mother commited suicide when she was six years old. She was then raised primarily by her aunt, Winnaretta Singer, Princess Edmond de Polignac. Fellowes always had a strained relationship with her father.. Throughout her childhood her father would cruelly tell her that it was unbelievable that he had such an unattractive daughter. In her early 20's she decided to reinvent herself. She had rhinoplasty, became interested in fashion and spent her time educating herself in the museums of Paris. Fellowes destroyed all old photos of herself. She is remembered as 'a 20th century society figure, acclaimed beauty, minor novelist and poet, editor in chief of French Harper's Bazaar, fashion icon and heiress to the Singer sewing machine fortune'. She died in Paris in 1962.
