Rita Moreno recycles 1962 Philippine-made Oscars dress 56 years later
Rita Moreno. Image:Twitter/@susanhetherington
What better way to relive an award-winning moment than channel the same exact outfit twice.
Hollywood actress Rita Moreno stole the spotlight when she wore a classic ensemble of black dress with gold floral accents for the recently held Academy Awards.
What’s worthy to note is that she wore the same dress when she won an Oscar for her supporting role in West Side Story in 1962 – and as she herself revealed, the dress was made in the Philippines.
She made a few changes, however, making the dress strapless and putting on gloves – and she wore a pair of glasses.
The 86-year-old stunner looked back on her look on her red carpet interview for Hollywood entertainment show “E! News.”
“This fabric is made out of obi, which is the sash that Japanese women use on their kimonos. They’re usually folded over and over and over. This is one piece of fabric,” she siad.
“I had no idea I was going to win. I thought for sure it was going to be Judy Garland for Judgment at Nuremberg, which was a big deal. She was doing a dramatic role,” Moreno recalled of the evening and her short speech. “I said, ‘Hey, I flew in from the Philippines, just in case,’ which is where this gown was made.”
In a report by ABC News, the Puerto Rican singer actress said in the early ’60s, she was “making a making a really crappy World War II movie, playing yet another native girl” and had a dressmaker in Manila make her gown.
Incidentally, the dressmaker’s name was Jose Moreno – better known as Pitoy. Same surname but no relation.
She also said that all these years, the dress had just been hanging in her closet. She though it deserved a glamorous night out again.
