A Bounty of Edith Head Sketches Have Hit the Auction Block

Beverly Hills-based Julien's offered eight drawings from the legendary costume designer in its recent "Hollywood Legends" sale — which earned the highest bid?

Natalie Wood in a promotional still from 1964's "Sex and the Single Girl," with Edith Head's sketch for Wood's costume at right.

Make no mistake: Edith Head sketches remain a hot commodity. Every classic-film fan is quick to discuss their favorites among movies, actors, actresses, directors — and surely you can add costume designers to that list. For every fan who is passionate about Adrian's incredible catalog of work at MGM, you can find someone who favors Travis Banton's designs for Marlene Dietrich at Paramount, or Theadora Van Runkle's work with Faye Dunaway in 1968's The Thomas Crown Affair. But Edith Head may reign supreme as the all-around favorite, from her early designs for Barbara Stanwyck and Veronica Lake to the later years when Alfred Hitchcock relied on her to create costumes for iconic films like Rear Window and The Birds.

It helps that Head's sketches are also among the most plentiful in the auction market, and the combination of both their style and the films they represent make them popular not only among fans of the famed designer, but also on their own merit as a piece of art and interior design. “Edith Head sketches have become much more popular on the market — not just among Hollywood collectors, but also for display in walk-in closets, bedrooms and bathrooms,” Peter Costanzo, specialist at New York-based Doyle Auctions, said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter about a November sale that included sketches by Head. “We love selling Edith Head drawings because they’re beautiful and have a lot of movement, and her sketches of Grace Kelly [designs] always seem to perform well.”

Now Beverly Hills-based Julien's Auctions is offering eight Edith Head sketches in its "Hollywood Legends: Classic Hollywood" sale, set for Wednesday, Dec. 11 at 11 a.m. PT. Part of the ongoing partnership between Julien's and Turner Classic Movies, the eight sketches in this sale represent costumes worn by four incredible women across the same number of films, and best of all for this selection, you can envision each woman easily in the look Head designed for her. Of course, the only wild card in highlighting these sketches is that Head famously did little of her own sketching; part of the lore about the designer, who passed away in 1981, is that she borrowed design sketches from Valencia, Calif.-based Chouinard Art Institute while she was still a student and passed the work off as her own in an interview at Paramount Studios. She later confessed, but her boss appreciated both her courage and her resourcefulness and allowed Head to stay. (Bob Mackie, who indeed worked for Head as a sketch artist early in his career, told this and other anecdotes about his time with her in a story for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences website.)

Among the sketches available at the Dec. 11 auction, which one might fetch the highest bid? Each of these is sure to be valued by someone, but there's a good chance we can pinpoint the one that will be the favorite — here we're featuring six of the eight, because two, both designs for Kay Thompson in Funny Face, ultimately were not seen in the completed film. (UPDATE: The two sketches not seen in this story sold for $3,900 and $1,950.)

Check out these six high-wattage sketches below and see the prices each ultimately achieved:

Lot #245

Kay Thompson Funny Face

Edith Head "Bonjour, Paris!" Costume Design Illustration

Head created this look for Kay Thompson, who played high-powered magazine editor Maggie Prescott in 1957's Funny Face, a role widely thought to be loosely based on legendary fashion editor Diana Vreeland. This look is worn during the "Bonjour, Paris!" musical number, in which Thompson, Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire forgo post-flight naps so they can run around Paris to visit all the landmarks they love. Not seen in the sketch is the raincoat Thompson wears in the scene, which was added upon the crew's arrival for shooting in Paris, which was experiencing inclement weather. Where did Thompson get her raincoat? From the House of Givenchy, where Hubert de Givenchy was busy with Audrey Hepburn's costumes for the film, but he happily accommodated Thompson's request. The current bid on this sketch is already up to $800, on an estimate of $300 to $500. (UPDATE: This sketch sold for $3,900.)

Lot #246

Kay Thompson Funny Face

Edith Head Fashion Show Sequence Costume Design Illustration

Thompson wears this look design later in the film during the climactic fashion-show sequence. The fabric swatch attached to the sketch is thought to match the cream-colored satin of the blouse that is part of this ensemble. Production notes and approvals are also included on both the back and front of this sketch, which carries a current bit of $350 against an estimate of $300 to $500. (UPDATE: This sketch sold for $3,900.)

Lot #150

Natalie Wood 1964 Costume Design Sketch by Edith Head

for Sex and the Single Girl

Natalie Wood wasn't the first thought for this role — according to contemporary news reports, Suzanne Pleshette and Audrey Hepburn were pursued to play Helen Brown in Sex and the Single Girl, a story that was only loosely based on the famed book by Helen Gurley Brown. But Wood knew it was an opportunity to show off her comedic chops while also starring in one of the sex comedies prevalent to the era (Pillow Talk is perhaps the best example of the genre). Wood also worked with Edith Head on The Great Race, which was released a year after this film. This sketch includes Head's handwritten notes, specifying that the look would be seen in "Sc. 23 - Int. Kitchen." This sketch carries a current bid of $300 against an estimate of $300 to $1,200. (UPDATE: This sketch sold for $1,170.)

Lot #151

Natalie Wood 1964 Costume Design Sketch by Edith Head

for Sex and the Single Girl

Because of the similarity between this and the other sketch, it could be that this design was created as a variation for consideration, also because Head's handwritten notes indicate the same scene number. The current bid for this piece is $450 against an estimate of $800 to $1,200. (UPDATE: This sketch sold for $1,625.)

Lot #146

Elizabeth Taylor 1951 Costume Design Sketch by Edith Head for A Place in the Sun

Head won an Oscar for her work on this film, one of the eight Academy Awards out of her 35 nominations, making her the most honored woman and costume designer in the industry's history. Head's work in A Place in the Sun for Elizabeth Taylor, who plays Angela Vickers, the society debutante who embarks on a doomed love affair with Montgomery Clift's George Eastman, ultimately became among the most iconic designs of her career; this was especially true of a strapless, floral-embellished white gown that was widely copied following the film's release and worn at high-school proms all across the U.S.

This black dinner dress is seen when Angela attends an indoor luau at her parents' home while on a date with George. It may be Taylor's best-known costume next to the white strapless gown. That could be why the sketch — which includes a handwritten note on the back of "Taylor length test OK" from Head — carries a starting bid of $4,500 against an estimate of $6,000 to $8,000. (UPDATE: This sketch did not sell, likely because bidders did not reach its reserve price.)

Lot #142

Audrey Hepburn 1953 Costume Design Sketch Signed by Edith Head for Roman Holiday

Head also won an Oscar for this film, just two years after A Place in the Sun. But Roman Holiday and this costume design may carry a bit more weight in this regard: It was Audrey Hepburn's first starring role (she also won the Academy Award for best actress), and this look is seen in the final, poignant scene, when Hepburn's Princess Ann both discover's Gregory Peck's true identity as a newspaper reporter, and that he won't reveal the details of the 24 hours they spent together, while also saying goodbye to Peck's Joe Bradley — not with words, but only looks exchanged between each other. This white lace day dress with a full skirt and wrapped bodice is wonderfully sophisticated and proves Head's talent for crafting glamorous designs that are still coveted more than 70 years later. Fold in the enduring status of Hepburn as a beloved star among fans of all ages, and this is the sketch we believe will fetch the highest bid on Dec. 11. The current bid stands at $1,500, though that's far below the required starting bid of $4,500 and the auction estimate of $6,000 to $8,000. (UPDATE: This prediction turned out to be accurate, with the sketch achieving a hammer price of $6,500.)

Audrey Hepburn in the final scene of "Roman Holiday," wearing the costume seen in the Edith Head sketch above.