A Punk Lady in 1944

And this lady is not other than the great Edith Head ...

I'm writing about this woman quite a bit in my latest posts without really explaining who she was. And maybe she is not as known as I might think, as not everyone has read the whole lot I have about her. (Actually I'm currently reading Edith Head's Hollywood by the designer herself and Paddy Calistro)

Some of you might "know" her face thanks to Disney's cartoon movie The Incredibles where she "played" the character Edna Mode.

Edith was the head designer at Paramount (although she would work for other studios as Universal or United Artists later in her career) for about 60 years and the first woman to succeed in a man's world: Costume Design. She is probably one of the most important costume designers in Hollywood's history together with MGM Gilbert Adrian, and the woman with more Oscars in her house (8 total).

She created Hollywood mythical outfits as Mae West's in She Done Him Wrong (this movie meant the beginning of Edith 's successful career), Audrey Hepburn's in Funny Face or Paul Newman and Robert Redford's in The Sting (this movie would give her the 8th and last Oscar in her career). She claimed to have worked on 1,131 films (Edith Head's Hollywood, page 163) in a time where costumes were actually designed and made, not bought as often happens nowadays. That's quite something!.

During World War II she was (and this is the point of my post's tittle), frequently quoted in magazines to advice women how to economize by sewing and designing their own clothing (those were rationing times ladies).
To support her own words she modeled in one of her DIY creations: she hand-painted safety-pins in a plain white blouse and used safety pins instead of buttons for the closing.

A : safety pins instead of buttons
B: hand-painted safety pins
C: you can't really see in my scan but she's wearing safety pins in her ears...

D: a safety pin keeps blouse and skirt safe in place

Hard times are hard and we wish they don't happen to us but we can't deny they are the ones to make our brains work...