Moreno in Moreno at the Oscars

From left: The late designer Pitoy Moreno with Hollywood star Rita Moreno and socialite Tingting delos Reyes Cojuangco —PHOTO COURTESY OF VIRGINIA MORENO

A veteran journalist remembered that Pitoy Moreno, hailed as the Fashion Czar of Asia, used to say that he and Rita Moreno, star of the hugely successful musical “West Side Story,” were related.

Of course, award-winning poet-playwright Virginia “Virgie” Moreno, the only surviving sibling of Pitoy (who passed away on Jan. 15), said it was a joke, as they traced their ancestry to mariners who sailed to the Philippines from Spain. Rita, on the other hand, was born in Puerto Rico.

The names of Rita and Pitoy first became associated in media reports when the former received her Oscar award for best supporting actress for her role in the musical. She mounted the stage in a Pitoy Moreno gown, which she said was made from one whole piece of fabric for the obi—the elaborate sash for the traditional Japanese kimono.

Virgie said Pitoy bought the material, together with several other pieces of fabric, on one of his trips to Japan. The prolific designer, who dressed up royalty, wives of heads of state and other celebrities, in fact left behind closets of fabrics, which he was going to use for his creations, Virgie said.

Pitoy and Rita got to know each other at a party when the award-winning actress was in Manila to shoot the film “Cry of Bataan.”

At the recent 90th Academy Awards, the Morenos again shared the spotlight as Rita presented the Oscar for best foreign film, wearing the same dress she wore in 1962, when she accepted her own trophy.

The black and gold gown impressed for looking almost as good as new despite hanging in the closet for 56 years, as Rita revealed, since the 1962 ceremony. Even more impressive was the fact that the opulent gown still fit the 86-year-old icon—one of only 12 people in history to have won an Emmy (television), Grammy (music), Oscar (film) and Tony (theater)—like a glove. The only alteration made was turning the halter top of the original design into strapless.

Interviewed by Ryan Seacrest, Rita, who now stars in the TV drama-comedy series “One Day at a Time,” said that her only concern was that after almost six decades, the gold and metallic threads of her gown would lose their shine. “You think it would tarnish! It’s been hanging in my closet,” she told Seacrest.

Cultural Center of the Philippines’ president Nestor O. Jardin and artistic director Fernando C. Josef, in a tribute to Pitoy (“Ginintuang Moreno”) in 2004, said: “Pitoy’s designs are ageless, timeless and truly Filipino design classics.” Rita Moreno’s 56-year-old gown proved the accuracy of that description.