Twenty of the nation's leading department stores last week leaped at the chance to make a big business out of a little woman. The little woman is Irene Gibbons, whose credit line ("Costume supervision by Irene") has made her name and work familiar to millions of cinemaddicts as executive designer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios.
The 20 stores, including such potent merchandisers as New York's Bergdorf Goodman, Chicago's Marshall Field and Dallas' Neiman-Marcus, put up $127,000 of the $277,000 capital for Irene, Inc., of which Irene owns 51% of the common stock. Irene promptly...