The Dress Doctor: Prescriptions for Style, from A to Z - Hardcover

Head, Edith

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061450650 ISBN 13: 9780061450655

Publisher: Collins Design, 2008

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review:

'In the 1950s, American women took more sartorial inspiration from film, and in 1959 Head published The Dress Doctor, her bestselling autobiography and style guide. The Dress Doctor: Prescriptions for Style from A to Z is an adaption of that book, presented as an illustrated paperback. Bill Donovan's illustrations give Head's epigrams vitality but is her advice still relevant half a century later?' --Financial Times Weekend, May 2011

From the Back Cover:

Long before celebrity stylists became as renowned as the Oscar-winning film stars they advise, the legendary costume designer Edith Head was dressing Hollywood's most fashionable women and men on screen and off--and lending her sartorial wisdom to women across the country on radio and television. In 1959, she published a best-selling memoir and style guide, The Dress Doctor, in which she shared tips on style and dozens of entertaining anecdotes on Hollywood's A-list with her fans. Now, The Dress Doctor has returned in this special edition of the original volume, an alphabetical romp through the art of getting dressed and dressing Hollywood, with specially commissioned illustrations and the best advice and stories culled word for word from the original book.

From Audrey Hepburn to Zooture, The Dress Doctor is filled with Head's timeless tips: her expertise on developing a personal style, dressing to flatter one's figure, building a wardrobe, and judging quality. Her prescriptions for dressing properly for various activities from archery to house cleaning to roller skating are a charming mix of perennially chic and, now, with the passing of time, tongue in chic. Fashion illustrator Bil Donovan's stunning re-creations of Head's most famous gowns, along with illustrations of myriad other stylish ensembles, bring the designer's work vividly to life again, along with Hollywood icons Grace Kelly, Katharine Hepburn, Mae West, Cary Grant, and many others.

This irresistible, elegant volume is a unique treasure for those who love film, style, and the glamour of Old Hollywood.

About this edition

• Publisher: Collins Design
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0061450650
• ISBN 13: 9780061450655
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 80
• Illustrator: Donovan Bil