1. Edith Head
(October 28, 1897-October 24, 1981)
8 Academy awards out of 35 nominations
She was an American costume designer. She was nominated 35 times for best costume designer in Academy award and won 8 of them. She worked at paramount pictures for 44 years(1925-1967). Then she joined universal pictures and worked there for rest of her life(1967-1981).
The movies for which she has received academy awards are:
- 1950 – Black and White – The Heiress
- 1951 – Color – Samson and Delilah
- 1951 – Black and White – All About Eve
- 1952 – Black and White – A Place in the Sun
- 1954 – Black and White – Roman Holiday
- 1955 – Black and White – Sabrina
- 1961 – Black and White – The Facts of Life
- 1974 – The Sting
She wore a pair of dark shaded sunglasses which was a trademark for her. Interestingly she wore the shades to see the costumes how they would look in black and white.
Her first profession was teaching French. She received a BA in Letters and Sciences with honors in French at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1919, and earned an MA in Romance Languages from Stanford University in 1920. She wanted to earn more so attended evening drawing classes. Despite lacking in costume design experience she got break as a costume sketch artist in Paramount Pictures in 1924. Her costume design career started with the silent film "the wanderer" which released in 1925.
2:Irene Sharaff
(January 23, 1910 - August 10, 1993),
She was an American costume designer for screen and theatre.
Irane Sharaff received 5 Oscar awards for best costume designs out of 15 nominations.
She was born in boston and studied Fine and applied arts in New York and at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière (academy of the large thatched cottage) is an art school in the VIe arrondissement of Paris, France.
Her debut in costume design started with production of the movie Alice in Wonderland in 1931.
The movies for which she has got the academy award are as follows:
- 1951-An American in Paris
- 1956-The King and I
- 1961-West Side Story
- 1963-Cleopatra
- 1966-Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
She has worked for more than 70 successful movies.Some of her other well known works are:Meet Me in St. Louis, Hello, Dolly!, Mommie Dearest, The Other Side of Midnight, Guys and Dolls, The Best Years of Our Lives, Funny Girl and Porgy and Bess.
Irene Sharaff died in New York City of congestive heart failure, complicated by emphysema, at the age of 83.
3:Charles Le Maire
(1897–1985)
He was an American costume designer born in Chicago .
He won 4 Academy awards out of 12 nominations.
he won Oscar as the best costume designer for the following movies:
- 1950-All About Eve
- 1951-David and Bathsheba
- 1953-The Robe
- 1955-Love is a Many Splendored Thing
In his early career he worked as a theater performer. By 1925 he started working as costume designer. Other oscar nominated movies are The Razor's Edge (1946),Gentleman's Agreement (1947),A Letter to Three Wives (1949),The Gunfighter (1950),The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951),Three Coins in the Fountain (1954),Carousel (1956),Walk on the Wild Side (1962).
4:Jean Louis
(October 5, 1907- April 20, 1997)
Jean Louis was a french born American costume designer.
He has won 1 academy award for best costume design out of 14 nominations.
The name of the movie for which he got the Academy award is :
- 1956 - Film: The Solid Gold Cadillac
and the other Oscar nominated movies are
- 1950 - Film: Born Yesterday
- 1952 - Film: Affair in Trinidad
- 1953 - Film: From Here to Eternity
- 1954 - Film: It Should Happen To You
- 1954 - Film: A Star Is Born
- 1955 - Film: Queen Bee
- 1957 - Film: Pal Joey
- 1958 - Film: Bell, Book and Candle
- 1961 - Film: Judgment at Nuremberg
- 1961 - Film: Back Street
- 1965 - Film: Ship of Fools
- 1966 - Film: Gambit
- 1967 - Film: Thoroughly Modern Millie
He had designed costumes for many then well known actresses like Marilyn Monroe, Lana Turner, Kim Novak etc.
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He also had designed the sparkling gown which Marilyn Monroe wore when she sang "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" to John F. Kennedy in 1962.
