Eta Hentz: Shining a Spotlight on the Everyday Woman
 

American Everyday: Resistance, Revolution & Transformation

Columbia College, Chicago, Feb. 15, 2020

 

Eta Hentz, a Hungarian-American immigrant, was an established, well-known designer during 1920s-1940s. After working in wholesale, and opening her own business, Eta Inc., she entered into a business partnership with the well-known dressmaker Maurice Rentner. With her Ren-Eta joint venture, Hentz targeted older working women by offering high quality dresses in a wider range of sizes than her juniors’-oriented competitors. In 1946, Eta continued her mission to reach an underrepresented segment of consumers; she launched a line aimed at ‘average-sized’ and petite women. "Proportionates" was lauded by Vogue as “so well designed and cut to the proportions of the average woman’s figure that they require practically no alteration.”