Irene (1901–1962)

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Irene (1901–1962)

Hollywood costume designer and entrepreneur . Name variations: Irene Lentz. Born Irene Lentz on December 8, 1901 (also seen as 1908), in Brookings, South Dakota; died on November 15, 1962; daughter of Emil Lentz (a rancher) and Maude (Watters) Lentz; graduated from Baker High School, Baker, Montana; attended the University of Southern California; graduated from Wolfe School of Design; married Richard Jones, a movie director (died around 1930); married Eliot Gibbons (a screenwriter), in 1936.

Selected films (alone or in collaboration as costume designer):

Flying Down to Rio (1933); Merrily We Live (1937); Shall We Dance (1937); Topper (1937); Vivacious Lady (1938); Algiers (1938); You Can't Take It With You(1938); Midnight (1939); Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939); Bachelor Mother (1939); Waterloo Bridge (1940); Seven Sinners (1940); That Uncertain Feeling (1941); Bedtime Story (1941); To Be or Not to Be (1942); Take a Letter (1942); Darling (1942); The Talk of the Town (1942); You Were Never Lovelier (1942); The Palm Beach Story (1942); Tales of Manhattan (1942); Cabin in the Sky (1943); The Human Comedy (1943); DuBarry Was a Lady (1943); Thousands Cheer (1943); Madame Curie (1943); A Guy Named Joe (1943); The Heavenly Body (1943); The White Cliffs of Dover (1944); Bathing Beauty (1944); Gaslight (1944); Kismet (1944); National Velvet (1944); Music for Millions (1944); The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945); The Clock (1945); The Valley of Decision (1945); Anchors Aweigh (1945); Weekend at the Waldorf (1945); Yolanda and the Thief (1945); Ziegfeld Follies (1945); The Harvey Girls (1946); The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946); Holiday in Mexico (1946); The Dark Mirror (1946); Undercurrent (1946); Till the Clouds Roll By (1946); The Yearling (1946); Lady in the Lake (1947); The Hucksters (1947); Merton of the Movies (1947); Song of Love (1947); Green Dolphin Street (1947); Cass Timberlane (1947); B.F.'s Daughter (1948); Summer Holiday (1948); State of the Union (1948); Easter Parade (1948); The Barkleys of Broadway (1949); Neptune's Daughter (1949); The Great Sinner (1949); Key to the City (1950); Please Believe Me (1950); Midnight Lace (1960); Lover Come Back (1961); A Gathering of Eagles (1963).

Costume designer Irene spent the first 16 years of her life far removed from the world of fashion. Born Irene Lentz in 1901 in Brookings, South Dakota, she grew up on a ranch in Montana, and attended school in the nearby town of Baker. Following her graduation from Baker High School, she enrolled at the University of Southern California to prepare for a career as a pianist. Her interest in fashion was piqued when she attended a class at the Wolfe School of Design with a friend. By the end of the first day of class, she had decided to give up music and become a fashion designer.

After completing studies at Wolfe, Irene was persuaded to open a dress shop by her fiancé Dick Jones, a movie director whom she subsequently

married. The shop was a success, and its Los Angeles location attracted the business of a number of Hollywood celebrities. (By some accounts, Lupe Velez was Irene's first important customer; others claim it was Dolores Del Rio .) Around 1930, following the death of her husband, Irene closed the shop and went to Europe where she studied fashion and dressmaking for a year and a half. Upon her return, she was tapped by an executive of the elite Bullock's Wilshire department store to head up their swanky custom-design salon; it was there that she began designing clothes for motion pictures. In 1942, MGM boss Louis B. Mayer put her under contract to MGM, where she succeeded the renowned Adrian (Gilbert A. Adrian), as executive designer. Mayer also allowed Irene to simultaneously open a business as a wholesale designer, a highly unusual decision for him at the time, as studios discouraged department heads from dividing their loyalties.

Irene remained with MGM throughout the 1940s, dressing the famous figures of Hedy Lamarr, Greer Garson, Judy Garland, Lana Turner , and Irene Dunne . She took pride in turning inexperienced young actresses into "glamorous types" and held to the theory that a woman did not have to have a perfect body to achieve a great look. "It's all in the way she carries herself and walks," she said. "If there is rhythmic music in her movements, it needn't matter that her shoulders are too broad or narrow, her waistline not slim enough; her hips too heavy, her ankles slightly thick." Irene won praise for the naturalness and originality of her designs, particularly her dressmaker suits and figure-revealing gowns. Especially memorable were the all-white outfits she designed for Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). In 1948, Irene was nominated for an Academy Award for her designs for B.F.'s Daughter, which starred Barbara Stanwyck .

After leaving MGM, Irene concentrated on her business, Irene, Inc., financed by 25 department stores throughout the country who held exclusive rights to her designs. Away from her work, the designer hated to "talk shop," although she and her second husband, screenwriter Eliot Gibbons, were part of a large Hollywood circle. Irene frequently accompanied her husband on hunting trips, having learned to shoot as a child. Irene returned to films briefly in the 1960s and was nominated for a second Academy Award for Doris Day 's lavish wardrobe in Midnight Lace (1960). Her last movie, A Gathering of Eagles, was released in 1963, a year after her death.