Chierichetti, David. Edith Head: The Life and Times of Hollywood's Celebrated Costume Designer. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2003.

 

 

Edith Head, one of the most important and successful costume designers of 20th-century Hollywood during her time at Paramount, originally worked with Audrey Hepburn on 1953’s Roman Holiday. Though she had never been fond of Hepburn’s shape and body type, it was assumed that Head would outfit the still-unknown actress in Sabrina, her next film. As Chierichetti recounts, Head was shocked when Hepburn and director Billy Wilder decided that “real Parisian dresses” would be used in many of the film’s most important scenes. Relegated to designing unimportant streetwear, Head was furious, and demanded sole credit for the film’s costumes. She was awarded the Oscar for Costume Design that year, which she accepted without mentioning Givenchy, and for the remainder of her career, she would pass off several of Givenchy’s designs in the film as her own.
Though Head was known throughout her career as having a propensity for lying in the most inappropriate situations, her obsession with claiming to have dressed Hepburn in the film is demonstrative of the film’s impact on the style of the time period. The “Sabrina” neckline, named for the shoulder-skimming boat-neck Givenchy used for a simple cocktail dress in the film, became a hugely popular phenomenon, as knock-offs appeared by designers around the world. Head claimed credit in print for inventing this style, and often showed the dress as part of her own collection. For the remainder of her life, Head would harbor a grudge against Hepburn, as she became a star largely as a result of her collaborations with Givenchy.