Costume worn by Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight, designed by Irene, 1944.

Gaslight was adapted from Patrick Hamilton’s successful stage play. Ingrid Bergman won her first Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as a woman who is being driven slowly insane by her psychotic husband. The costumes were designed by Irene, who was known professionally by her first name. Irene started her career as a couturier in 1927 with her own business in Los Angeles, soon she was designing costumes for films. By the early 1940s, she was Head of the Costume Department at MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) and designed costumes for many of MGM’s most successful and enduring films, including Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1945) and Fred Astaire and Ginger’s final film together, The Barclays of Broadway (1949).

This costume was part of the British Film Institute (BFI) costume collection, which the BFI developed for display at the Museum of the Moving Image. The Museum existed on the South Bank in London between 1988 and 1999. The collection was made up of costumes from British, European, American and Japanese films, covering the period from the silent film era to the mid-1990s. It contained a wealth of historic and significant film costumes, worn by major performers and designed by some of the 20th century’s most important film costume designers. The collection was transferred to the V&A in 2015.