We’re conflicted to report that costume designer Jean-Pierre Dorléac (1943-2026) — ahem, Jerry Paine — passed away recently. And while we have hearts, and are sorry for anyone who cared for him and is sad right now, whether family, friend, and/or fan, New Shit Has Come to Light. Apparently not only did Dorléac lay awake at night being irritated at Kendra for pointing out where his costume designs veered away from Actual History, he was an online troll AND someone who lied not only about his own background, but also about knowing many famous Hollywood people who he totally disparaged. Had we known this (sorry Dorléac, we know you couldn’t quit us but we actually didn’t spend much time thinking about you), we would have happily outed him right from the start. But with Dorléac’s passing, writer Farran Smith Nehme has done a DEEP dive on Dorléac that shows he wasn’t who he said he was, didn’t have the credentials that he claimed he did, and shared misogynistic snark that he likely had made up for views.
Hurry up and read “The Man Who Would Be Dorléac,” because it may go behind a paywall soon, and it’s a WILD RIDE.
“The discrepancy between things Dorléac had said in the past, and things he said now, bothered me. The fact that I couldn’t find a record of Edith Head mentioning Dorléac that didn’t come from the man himself also bothered me. I don’t like unsourced Hollywood stories. They make me itch… More bluntly, I don’t like liars, and I really don’t like a man elbowing his way into the life story of a famous woman after she’s dead and can neither confirm nor say ‘Hey, I don’t know you like that.'”
Now that we know what a liar and a jerk Dorléac was, we are happy to share with you that The Legendary Email came from him — thanks to a reader (I’ll let her identify herself if she wants to) who figured out the connection by following his Twitter, which has now been deleted; he’d posted something snarky about librarians that was clearly a reference to Kendra (who is a professional academic librarian). From The Legendary Email:
I have been studying your snippety reviews regarding costumes for films listed in “Frock Flicks” for over a month on their website. With a great deal of reservation, considering I try to avoid dunderheads such as you, I have decided to write and let you know, in short, that although you seem to pride yourself with your preposterous theories, you know NOTHING about costume designing and little to nothing about period fashion.
Remember the claim to be “a costume designer who has an PhD in fashion and textile from Oxford University in London”? Not only is Oxford University is in the city of Oxford, England, but as readers quickly pointed out, they have never offered a fashion and textile PhD. But also, apparently Dorléac more often liked to claim he had a PhD in “historical apparel” from l’École des Beaux-Arts in Paris; Nehme hilariously points out that the Beaux-Arts does not, and never has (as far as she can tell), had such a degree. (Readers? Do your thing!). Sounds familiar!
So what pissed off Dorléac? Well, he didn’t like that I called his FILMS (NOT his designs) “shlocky” in my review of his designs for Mae West (1982).
The shittiest thing imho about Dorléac is that he tried to hide his identity. His first screed came from “Deborah” at “UCLAcostumes@gmail.com,” a made-up email address that was clearly trying to impersonate the esteemed Deborah Nadoolman Landis (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Three Amigos, Burke & Hare; two term president of the Costume Designers Guild and researcher/author who has published several influential books about Hollywood costume). Of course Landis had emailed us before from her REAL email address, so, nice try.
What’s hilarious is how two-faced Dorléac was. In his legendary email to us, he pointed out Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) as a film whose costumes were inventive if not historically accurate (we think the same thing!). But on Twitter, he snarked the film (sorry I can’t quote him, his Twitter was taken down almost immediately after he passed and it’s not captured in Internet Archive). He made fun of Victor/Victoria (1982) for an obvious zipper.
He also snarked Lucy Worsley, calling her a “coy, saucy hack.”
But Dorléac couldn’t quit us. Next, he commented that he had “discovered” that back-lacing dresses were historically accurate to the 18th century, in a comment that Trystan (who unfortunately keeps the comments civil) deleted:
He was a jerk on our review of Goya’s Ghosts (2006), again using a fake name:
In fact, he left enough shitty comments on our site that we ended up blocking his IP address.
But I think my personal favorite was when he emailed me (Kendra) AT MY WORK EMAIL to share this gem:
(I enjoyed this recent Facebook post about the Pinckney dress by someone who knows enough to report that the dress was damaged not only by pests but also “alterations and continued wear by generations of descendants.” I’m only sorry Dorléac isn’t around for me to share this with him!)
In fact, we did an Easter egg of a Snark Week post with a guide to his frock flick work, which funnily enough, he never responded to!
So, ad astra, Jerry Paine. We know you’re spinning in your grave because, as I wrote you back:
Did you have any run-in’s with Dorléac, on Twitter or elsewhere? Spill the tea!
