Creation also provides the voice of Edna, using a unique accent that has been described as a hybrid between German and Japanese.|leftEdna Mode was created for
The Incredibles (2004) by the film's writer and director,
Brad Bird. Bird discovered that, despite featuring characters dressed in extravagant costumes, traditional
superhero films rarely offer plausible
exposition explaining how superheroes come to obtain such garments, or who provides them in the first place. He envisioned Edna as a scientist and technical genius in addition to being a fashion designer. According to Bird, the creation of Edna took the notion of superheroes wearing designed costumes "to a further extreme". Bird identified Edna as the "most fun character" he created for the film. Bird's voice for the character originated from story boarding sessions, during which various Pixar employees typically provide characters' voices temporarily. Although these voices are usually eventually replaced with professional actors, there are some unique instances when the original voices are retained, as was the case with Bird's "Edna" performance. Bird had also provided temporary voices for other characters during this time, including Bob Parr and Syndrome, who were ultimately voiced by
Craig T. Nelson and
Jason Lee, respectively. Several actresses were considered for the role of Edna, including a performer who repeatedly asked Bird to demonstrate her dialogue until eventually telling him to simply voice the character himself. According to Bird, an actress he had admired and had been petitioning for the role asked him to send her home with a tape recording of his scratch voiceover so she could rehearse. After about a week, the actress returned to Bird and explained "You know what, you do it pretty well. You should do it. I find myself trying to sound like you". Finally succumbing to "popular demand" from his staff, Bird joked that he was ultimately cast as Edna simply because he was both affordable and available at the time. A similar approach was used for several other supporting characters in
The Incredibles: animator Bret Parker voices Kari, the Parr family's teenage babysitter; writer
Bud Luckey voices government agent
Rick Dicker; Edna was the first character Lear was hired to dub in Italian. specifically how he prefers to be involved in virtually every creative aspect of his projects. Bird described Edna as a character who is "not remotely intimidated by superheroes or anyone", refusing to accept the word "no" when it is used in opposition of her opinions or beliefs. Edna's design, personality, and voice are widely believed to have been based on costume designer
Edith Head, with whom she shares her signature round glasses, black
bob cut, and forthright demeanor. Bird described Edna as a combination of Head and
Q, a character from the
James Bond franchise. The director has generally declined to confirm any direct influences on the character, insisting that Edna is not based on one specific person, although Head continues to be considered the character's "most legitimate" alleged inspiration. In an article discussing who Edna is based on,
Entertainment Weekly's Steve Daly cited
Vogue editor-in-chief
Anna Wintour, designer
Coco Chanel and actress
Lotte Lenya as possible influences, while drawing similarities between the character's use of large-framed glasses to architect
Philip Johnson, producer
Robert Evans, talent agent
Swifty Lazar, studio executive
Lew Wasserman, and fashion editor
Carrie Donovan. Acknowledging that there are several female fashion designers who wear glasses upon whom Edna could have been based, Bird admitted he drew inspiration from Head, author
Patricia Highsmith, and actress
Linda Hunt. For the sequel, in order to design costumes for a character who happens to be a designer herself, Imagire drew upon
art school lessons, while imagining what the character might be thinking when designing her own clothes. Meanwhile, character artist Deanna Marsigliese's first assignment was to create an entire line of clothing designed by Edna. Although ultimately the completed clothing line was not used in the final film, Marsigliese considered the experience "a study in (Edna's) character" nonetheless, and drew inspiration from Edna's wardrobe and belongings in the first film. Although she was aware that Edna enjoys being dramatic, she acknowledges that designers do not necessarily have the same
aesthetic as their clients. Similarly, Imagire agreed that fashion designers such as Kawakubo, Ishioka, and Abe always dressed comfortably in comparison to their models, a contrast she wanted Edna to reflect. Recalling that Edna dislikes models, the artist envisioned that the character would instead design her own clothing to serve as "a vehicle to celebrate superheroes and her powers". Inspired by Italian fashion designer
Elsa Schiaparelli, Marsigliese created a "classic,
mid-century inspired silhouette" for Edna's costumes that were also bold and dramatic as though Edna herself had designed them, then rearranging the designs to ultimately give them a more surreal appearance. Dubbing the character a "woman of the now", Marsigliese explained that, like Schiaparelli, Edna is "completely ahead of her time" despite living in the 1950s; "she used a lot of surrealist elements, a lot of fun surprises, and that was very inspiring for me." ==Characterization==