Edith Head (The Sting) The Sting
Edith Head won her eighth and final Academy Award for The Sting's costume design -- more Oscars than any other woman in the Academy's history at the time. Her work on the film dressed Paul Newman and Robert Redford in the chalk-stripe suits, newsboy caps, and broad-lapeled jackets that became the film's visual signature and briefly influenced 1970s men's fashion. Head's approach was characteristically pragmatic: make the clothes serve the story, not compete with the actors.
Head dressed the two handsomest men in the world and got an Oscar for it
Head's acceptance speech captured her attitude toward the assignment.
"Just imagine dressing the two handsomest men in the world, and then getting this!" — Edith Head, 46th Academy Awards (1974)
The remark is self-deprecating but misleading. Dressing Newman and Redford in period-accurate 1930s wardrobe required research, precision, and the ability to make seventy-year-old fashion legible to 1970s audiences. Head's designs needed to read as "1930s" without looking like costumes -- the same balancing act that Henry Bumstead and the Period Design and Robert Surtees (The Sting) performed in their respective crafts.
Head's motto was that the audience should notice the actors, not the clothes
"My motto is that the audience should notice the actors, not the clothes." — Edith Head (attributed)
The philosophy is visible throughout The Sting. Hooker's wardrobe -- a wide-patterned tie and newsboy cap -- makes him look naive and slightly out of his depth, which is exactly how Lonnegan needs to see him. Gondorff's clothes shift with his disguises: disheveled in the brothel, flashy and vulgar as "Shaw" on the train, commanding in the betting parlor. Lonnegan's wardrobe communicates wealth and control through dark, tailored precision. The costumes do character work that dialogue does not need to repeat.
The costumes influenced 1970s men's fashion
Head noted that The Sting "exerted a strong influence on men's clothes -- chalk-stripe suits, newsboy caps, and broad lapels" -- and could not recall a previous male cast having so much influence on fashion. The film's period wardrobe became aspirational rather than nostalgic: audiences in 1973 did not dress like the 1930s, but they wanted to after watching Newman and Redford do it. (wikipedia)
The leads' costumes were actually executed by Saldutti and Dee
A significant caveat: the costumes for Newman and Redford were executed by tailors Peter Saldutti and Vincent Dee, with Andrea Weaver working as the women's costumer. Head supervised the overall design and received the Academy Award, but the hands-on construction of the principal wardrobe was collaborative. This pattern -- Head receiving credit for work she supervised rather than personally executed -- was a recurring controversy in her career, though it does not diminish the design intelligence visible on screen. (wikipedia)