Dressing Up The Stars

Discover the true story of how a shy miner’s daughter became one of the most legendary costume designers in Hollywood in this inspiring nonfiction picture book biography. As a child in the small mining town of Searchlight, Nevada, Edith Head had few friends and spent most of her time dressing up her toys and pets and even wild animals using fabric scraps. She always knew she wanted to move somewhere full of people and excitement. She set her sights on Hollywood and talked her way into a job sketching costumes for a movie studio. Did she know how to draw or sew costumes? No. But that didn’t stop her! Edith taught herself and tirelessly worked her way up until she was dressing some of the biggest stars of the day, from Audrey Hepburn to Grace Kelly to Ginger Rogers. She became the first woman to head a major Hollywood movie studio costume department and went on to win eight Academy Awards for best costume design—and she defined the style of an era.

Winner of eight Oscars for costume design, the author describes some of the hundreds of productions she worked on and gives her personal impressions of the actors and actresses for whom she created costumes.

A young girl imagines her own future as she puts on costumes and pretends to be great women from history, including Amelia Earhart, Lucille Ball, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Edith Head is widely considered the most important figure in the history of Hollywood costume design. The glamour and style of her creations continue to inspire generations of designers. Her career spanned nearly half a century and included such classic films as Rear Window and Sunset Boulevard. Her private life and professional achievements, however, have been the subject of speculation since she rose to the top of her field in the late 1940s. Ruthlessly competitive and intensely secretive, Head had few close friends and many detractors. In his unprecedented biography, David Chierichetti offers a privileged glimpse into the personality and emotions behind the famously impenetrable "scboolmarm" façade, as well as a comprehensive account of her creative process. As Head's longtime friend and confidant, Chierichetti enjoyed rare access to her home life and reflections on Hollywood. The author's intimate view of Head's life and work, combined with his extensive research and design expertise, result in a clear-eyed portrait of a career often shrouded in misinformation. To find the truth in the notoriously fictionalized accounts of Edith Head, the author turned to her friends, co-workers, and competitors. The result of Chierichetti's meticulous, original research is a fresh and vital portrait of the designer, as well as of the studio era she epitomizes. Edith Head is richly illustrated with more than 150 images, including family snapshots, sketches, and studio portraits of the stars and roles she helped to create. With a full-color photo insert, this informative, thorough, and important biography is also engaging and entertaining, and will appeal to designers, scholars, and film buffs alike.

Edith Head was perhaps the most famous Hollywood costume designer of all time. Long before Rachel Zoe, Andrea Leibermann, Estee Stanley, and Nicole Chavez were styling Hollywood celebrities, eight-time Oscar Award-winning Edith Head was the sartorial sensation behind the silver screen’s most high-profile stars and starlets. The Dress Doctor, adapted from her 1959 autobiography and enhanced with lavish illustrations of her most famous dresses by artist Bill Donovan, revisits the Golden Age of Hollywood with entertaining anecdotes about dressing some of the town’s biggest legends—Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, and Marlene Dietrich, to name a few. In her lifetime, Head was also a sought-after authority by everyday women for her invaluable tips on dressing well: The Dress Doctor includes her witty observations and dispenses the no-nonsense timeless advice for which she was legendary.

Featuring many exquisite historical photographs, a celebration of the sometimes extravagant, sometimes bizarre pastime: playing dress-up. Pierrot, Little Bo Peep, cowboy: these characters and many more form part of this colorful story of dressing up, from the accession of Queen Victoria to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. During this time, fancy dress became a regular part of people’s social lives, and the craze for it spread across Britain and the Empire, reaching every level of society. Spectacular and witty costumes appeared at suburban street carnivals, victory celebrations, fire festivals, missionary bazaars, and the extravagant balls of the wealthy. From the Victorian middle classes performing “living statues” to squads of Shetland men donning traditional fancy dress and setting fire to a Viking ship at the annual Up Helly Aa celebration, this lavishly illustrated book provides a unique view into the quirky, wonderful world of fancy dress.

In this story, children choose costumes from a trunk and imagine becoming the people and creatures who would wear them.

Star Sullivan has dreamt of living in London since being a rebellious teenager, but the reality is not as glamorous as she’d anticipated. She is stressed in her position of magazine journalist and her love life is failing due to a commitment phobic boyfriend. When her father requests her presence back home, she jumps at the chance to spend some Christmas rest and relaxation in the tiny Staffordshire village where nothing ever happens. But back in Warley-on-the-Wood, Star finds herself embroiled in other people’s dramas and community affairs. Add to the mix the reappearance of a teenage love interest, Star forgets all about her upcoming promotion to senior reporter and is swept away by a passionate love affair with country farmer Flynn Hadden. As Christmas ends and the new year looms, she is forced to question where her future lies and with whom.