STARSTRUCK at OKCMOA: ‘Edith Head: Hollywood’s Costume Designer’ exhibition continues with Gossip Tours & Films

/ Glenda Rice Collins

Related events: Gossip Tours scheduled for July 20 & September 14. New showtime added for July 20 “Vertigo” film feature.

By Glenda Rice Collins

Oklahoma City, Okla., USA — Highlighting Edith Head’s rule over Paramount and Universal Studios’ costume departments for decades, the much-anticipated exhibition “Edith Head: Hollywood’s Costume Designer” at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art provides a unique venue for revisiting many memorable movie moments from the past through often elaborate costume designs, videos, gossip tours and a featured films series. Organized by OKCMOA and presented by The Ann Lacy Foundation, this unique exhibition will not travel beyond Oklahoma City.

An “art opening…painted dress” costume worn by Shirley MacLaine as Louisa May Foster in the 1964 film What a Way to Go is currently displayed at the OKCMOA “Edith Head: Hollywood’s Costume Designer” exhibition in Oklahoma City. Photo by Glenda Rice Collins.

“Only at OKCMOA this summer will you be able to see one of Grace Kelly’s Rear Window dresses alongside Cornel Wilde’s costume from The Greatest Show on Earth, Barbara Stanwyck’s dress from All About Eve, and beachwear from Elvis Presley films,” said Catherine Shotick, guest curator of the exhibition. “Together these costumes help tell the story of Edith Head’s legacy as one of the greatest and most influential costume designers in film history.” 

Oklahoma City Museum of Art guest curator Catherine Shotick, –shown standing near chic black costumes worn by Hollywood icons Kim Novak and Grace Kelly, –shares a few details about the iconic costume designer Edith Head. The exhibition, Edith Head, Hollywood’s Costume Designer opened June 22 at OKCMOA, where it continues through September 29, 2024. Video by Glenda Rice Collins.

From Hollywood musicals to romantic comedies and biblical epics, the list of film genres and Hollywood stars that Head designed for is extensive, including works for some 400 movies.

Gossip Tours Featured

JULY 20, 2024 & SEPTEMBER 14, 2024 at 2 p.m. Early registration suggested.

Explore Edith Head: Hollywood’s Costume Designer with Manager of Teacher and School Programs Tori Waldron, OKCMOA’s styled Hedda Hopper, as she dishes dirt on the productions and costume designs of Hollywood’s” “golden years ” from the 1930’s into the 1950’s.

In continuing with OKCMOA’s accessibility initiatives, visitors to Edith Head, Hollywood’s Costume Designer can find QR codes throughout the exhibition that, when scanned, will lead to both English and Spanish audio of label and panel text, as well as visual descriptions of select costumes. Photo by Glenda Rice Collins.

The much-anticipated exhibition explores the incomparable career of eight-time Oscar®-winning costume designer Edith Head (1897-1981) through sketches, video-screening areas, and 70 original costumes. 

Edith Head (1897-1981) is pictured, center left, collaborating with Betty Hutton, as costumed for her roles as identical twins Susan and Rosemary Allison in the comedy musical Here Come the Waves. The original costume for Hutton is displayed within the OKCMOA exhibition, Edith Head, Hollywood’s Costume Designer, continuing through September 29, 2024. Photo by Glenda Rice Collins.

Costume Labels Bring Insight

Delving not only into the costumes designs themselves but to the film-making industry at that time and the actors’ careers as well allows for heightened insight into film history. In continuing with OKCMOA’s accessibility initiatives, visitors can find QR codes throughout the exhibition that, when scanned, will lead to both English and Spanish audio of label and panel text, as well as visual descriptions of select costumes.  

A costume worn by Hedy Lamarr as Delilah in the 1949 film Samson and Delilah is shown next to the Academy Award Edith Head received for such costume designs. It was not, however, described as one of her favorite film experiences. According to the exhibit label details, Head did not enjoy working with Lamarr, and with other requirements imposed by the director, Cecil B. DeMille, which she felt limited her authority. Photo by Glenda Rice Collins.
Displayed in the unique OKCMOA exhibition, Edith Head, Hollywood’s Costume Designer, is a costume worn by Fred Astaire in the film Holiday Inn. Photo by Glenda Rice Collins.

For this historic costume extravaganza, visitors are encouraged to take their time experiencing and to return often to engage with this unique exhibition, which will not travel beyond Oklahoma City. 

Oklahoma City Museum of Art visitors are encouraged to take their time in and return to engage with the one-of-a-kind 2024 exhibition, Edith Head, Hollywood’s Costume Designer, presented by the Ann Lacy Foundation.

Additional programming will accompany the exhibition throughout its run in the form of a weekly Edith Head film series, the Museum Book Club, tours, Drop-In Art, and more.

OKCMOA Edith Head Film Series continues:

Vertigo: New showtime added!

JULY 20, 2024,

2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

OKCMOA Noble Theater

Voted the greatest film of all time in the 2012 Sight and Sound critics’ poll, Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” is a breathlessly cinematic tale of romantic obsession that follows an ex-cop with a fear of heights (James Stewart) hired to trail a beautiful, haunted young woman (Kim Novak).  

A costume worn by Kim Novak as Judy Barton/Madeleine Elster in the 1958 Alfred Hitchcock film “Vertigo” is currently displayed among 70 other Edith Head designs at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art exhibition, Edith Head: Hollywood’s Costume Designer through September 29. Photo by Glenda Rice Collins.
A costume worn by Grace Kelly as Lisa Carol Fremont in the 1954 Alfred Hitchcock film “Rear Window” is displayed in the OKCMOA exhibition Edith Head, Hollywood’s Costume Designer, through September 29. Photo by Glenda Rice Collins.

REAR WINDOW | Alfred Hitchcock | 1954 film | In English | 112 minutes | PG | Sunday, July 21 at 3 p.m., at OKCMOA Noble Theater..

A masterful meditation on the pleasures and perils of intrusive looking, Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window stars Jimmy Stewart as a wheelchair-bound photojournalist who begins to suspect his neighbor of a crime; with Grace Kelly as his love interest and partner in volunteer detective work.

Summer films continue on to Fall film highlights with Audrey Hepburn at the OKCMOA Noble Theater:

FUNNY FACE | Stanley Donen film | 1957 | In English | 103 minutes | NR | DCP | Sat., Sept. 21 @ 2 pm .

Featuring songs by George and Ira Gershwin, this enchanting musical Cinderella story stars Audrey Hepburn as a bohemian bookstore clerk who is whisked off to Paris after being chosen to model glamorous fashions for a magazine photo shoot.

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S | Blake Edwards film | 1961 | In English | 115 minutes | NR | Sat., Sept. 28 @ 2 pm  

Based on Truman Capote’s best-selling novella, Blake Edwards’ iconic rom-com follows incandescent New York party girl Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) as she develops a relationship with the handsome writer in the apartment next door.   

For more information, and complete listing of diverse film screenings, please visit okcmoa.com. 

As with all exhibitions, Museum members receive free entry to Edith Head: Hollywood’s Costume Designer, early access, invitations to exclusive events, and discounts on films and programming. For more information, please visit okcmoa.com/membership.   

Tickets are available online at okcmoa.com, in person, or by calling the Museum’s main number (405) 236-3100. 

CREDIT: Featured banner photo by Glenda Rice Collins.

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