Irene Maud Lentz (December 8, 1901 – November 15, 1962),"Irene", in Suicide in the Entertainment Industry: An Encyclopedia of 840 Twentieth Century Cases, by David K. Frasier (McFarland, 2005) pp. 156-157 also known mononymously and professionally as Irene, was an American actress turned fashion designer and costume designer. Her work as a clothing designer in Los Angeles led to her career as a costume designer for films in the 1930s. Lentz also worked under the name Irene Gibbons.
Early life
Born in Baker, Montana to Emil Lents and Maud Walters, Lentz started out as an actress under her birth name, appearing in secondary roles in silent films beginning with Mack Sennett in 1921. She played ingénue parts opposite Sennett's leading comedians, Ben Turpin and Billy Bevan. Lentz was directed in her first film by Sennett's production chief, F. Richard Jones; their professional relationship matured into a personal one. They had been married for less than a year when Jones succumbed to tuberculosis in 1930.
Design career
Lentz had been taught sewing as a child and with a flair for style, she decided to open a small dress shop. The success of her designs in her tiny store eventually led to an offer from the Bullocks Wilshire luxury department store to design for their Ladies Custom Salon which catered to a wealthy clientele including a number of Hollywood stars.
Lentz's designs at Bullocks gained her much attention in the film community and she was contracted by independent production companies to design the wardrobe for some of their productions. Billing herself simply as "Irene", her first work came in 1933 on the film Goldie Gets Along, featuring her designs for star Lili Damita. In the 1936 Mae West vehicle Go West, Young Man she was credited as Irene Jones. However, her big break came when she was hired to create the gowns for Ginger Rogers for her 1937 film Shall We Dance with Fred Astaire. This was followed by more designs in another Ginger Rogers film as well as work for other independents such as Walter Wanger Productions, Hal Roach Studios as well as majors such as RKO, Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures. During the 1930s, Irene Lentz designed the film wardrobe for leading ladies such as Constance Bennett, Hedy Lamarr, Joan Bennett, Claudette Colbert, Carole Lombard, Ingrid Bergman, and Loretta Young among others. She "is generally regarded as the originator of the dressmaker suit" that was popular in the late 1930s.
Through her work, Lentz met and married short story author and screenwriter Eliot Gibbons, brother of multi-Academy Award winning Cedric Gibbons, head of art direction at MGM Studios. Despite her success, working under the set designer Cedric while being married to his brother Eliot was not easy. Irene confided to her close friend Doris Day that the marriage to Eliot was not a happy one. Generally regarded as the most important and influential production designer in the history of American films, Cedric Gibbons hired Lentz when gown designer Adrian left MGM in 1941 to open his own fashion house. By 1943 she was a leading costume supervisor at MGM, earning international recognition for her "soufflé creations" and is remembered for her avant-garde wardrobe for Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946).
In 1950, Lentz left MGM to open her own fashion house. Although Lentz had been out of the film industry for nearly ten years, Doris Day requested her services for the production Midnight Lace (Universal, 1960). The following year she did the costume design for another Day film, Lover Come Back (1961), and during 1962 worked on her last production, A Gathering of Eagles (released in 1963).
In 1962, after Doris Day noticed that Lentz seemed upset and nervous, Lentz confided in her that she was in love with actor Gary Cooper and that he was the only man that she had ever loved. Cooper had died in 1961.
Awards and nominations
Nomination for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White for B.F.'s Daughter (1948)Irene - Awards and Nominations at IMDb Nomination for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Color for Midnight Lace (1960)
Death On November 15, 1962, three weeks before her sixty-first birthday, Lentz took room 1129 at the Knickerbocker Hotel, Los Angeles, checking in under an assumed name. She jumped to her death from her bathroom window.
She had left suicide notes for friends and family, for her ailing husband, and for the hotel residents, apologizing for any inconvenience her death might cause. Per her wishes, she is interred next to her first husband, director F. Richard Jones, at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Legacy
In 2005, Irene Lentz was inducted into the Costume Designers Guild's Anne Cole Hall of Fame.
Selected filmography Year Title Notes1933Goldie Gets AlongCostume designer, uncredited1933Flying Down to RioCostume designer, uncredited1936Go West, Young ManGowns for Mae West, credited as Irene Jones1937Shall We DanceGowns for Ginger Rogers1937Vogues of 1938Gowns for Joan Bennett1938You Can't Take It With YouGowns for Jean Arthur1938Topper Takes a Trip Gowns for Constance Bennett1938Vivacious LadyGowns for Ginger Rogers1939In Name OnlyGowns for Carole Lombard1939Intermezzo: A Love StoryCostume designer for Ingrid Bergman1939MidnightGowns for Claudette Colbert1940Green HellGowns for Joan Bennett1940RebeccaCostume designer, uncredited1940Waterloo BridgeGowns for Vivien Leigh, uncredited (with Adrian)1940Seven SinnersGowns for Marlene Dietrich1940This Thing Called LoveGowns for Rosalind Russell1941That Uncertain FeelingGowns for Merle Oberon1941Mr. & Mrs. SmithGowns for Carole Lombard1941To Be or Not to BeGowns for Carole Lombard1942Take a Letter, DarlingGowns for Rosalind Russell1942You Were Never LovelierGowns for Rita Hayworth1942The Palm Beach StoryCostume designer1943No Time for LoveGowns for Claudette Colbert1943Girl CrazyCostume supervisor1943The Youngest ProfessionCostume supervisor1944GaslightCostume designer1944Meet Me in St. LouisCostume supervisor1944Bathing BeautyCostume supervisor1945The Picture of Dorian GrayCostume supervisor1945Week-End at the WaldorfCostume supervisor1945Without LoveCostume supervisor1946Costume supervisor1946Ziegfeld FolliesCostume designer/supervisor, uncredited1947Lady in the LakeCostume supervisor1947Cynthia Costume designer1947Cass TimberlaneCostume designer1948Easter ParadeCostume designer (women)1948Costume supervisor1949Costume designer1949Neptune's DaughterCostume designer1950Shadow on the WallCostume designer1960Midnight LaceGowns for Doris Day1961Lover Come BackGowns for Doris Day1963Costume designer
References
Informational notes
External links
Irene Lentz – pioneer of an American luxury fashion brand at aenigma