Edith Head Quotes

A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman and loose enough to prove you're a lady.

You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it.

Clothes are the way you present yourself to the world; they affect the way the world feels and thinks about you; subconsciously they affect the way you feel and think about yourself.

Fashion is a language. Some know it, some learn it, some never will - like an instinct.

What a costume designer does is a cross between magic and camouflage. We create the illusion of changing the actors into what they are not. We ask the public to believe that every time they see a performer on the screen he's become a different person.

Building a proper wardrobe is like building a home. Indeed, you should think of it like a home, because it is something you're going to live in. It must be comfortable and suit all your needs.

Marlene Dietrich and Roy Rogers are the only two living humans who should be allowed to wear black leather pants.

A designer is only as good as the star who wears her clothes.

Some people need sequins, others don't.

Before you are interviewed for the job you want, try on the complete outfit you intend to wear.

There's no such thing as a standard size movie star, or woman for that matter.

You can lead a horse to water and you can even make it drink, but you can't make actresses wear what they don't want to wear.

I assure you that even the most beautiful women are not pretty all over. They have merely learned to use clothes deftly enough to give others the impression that they are.

My motto is that the audience should notice the actors, not the clothes.

There are three fashion periods: the past, the present and Mae West.

We don't make glamorous movies today. Everything now is very realistic, artistic - and depressing. When is the last time you you saw a wonderful musical or a fabulous fantasy?

Life is competitive; clothes gird us for the competition.

Many faux pas of fashion can be avoided if you curb your instinctive desire to buy things with your heart instead of your head.

Many women have asked me if it is possible to have a well-built complete wardrobe on a limited budget. "Money," I tell them, "is no guarantee of taste and the fitness of things, and an overstuffed closet is often as bare as a skeleton when it comes to wearable apparel."

I always wear beige, black or white. For one thing I look good in them. For another, when I'm beside a star at a fitting, and she looks into the mirror, I don't want to be competing in any way.

I have yet to see one completely unspoiled star, except for the animals-like Lassie.

Couture has copied my things for years, in addition to countless other costume designers, claiming theirs were the original ideas. It's all part of the business, unfortunately.

Even the most beautiful legs - Marlene Dietrich's, for instance - look better when the kneecap is covered.

I've dressed thousands of actors, actresses and animals, but whenever I am asked which star is my personal favorite, I answer, "Grace Kelly." She is a charming lady, a most gifted actress and, to me, a valued friend.

As women, we all have certain weaknesses. I know one who can't resist pretty shoes but has nothing suitable to wear with them. Others adore frilly lingerie but never have any money to buy outer clothing.