Just two months after his death, celebrated Filipino designer Pitoy Moreno’s work was once again celebrated on the world stage. During the 2018 Oscars ceremony held in Los Angeles today, actress Rita Moreno wore the gown Pitoy designed for her when she won an Oscar in 1962.
The dress was updated and reconstructed to have a strapless top instead of the original Sabrina cut, but the black balloon skirt with gold floral details was mostly left unaltered. Here’s a look at the original:
Just learned from Rita Moreno’s daughter that her mom will be wearing the same gown she wore to the #Oscars in 1962 pic.twitter.com/Sf6DdgC7jr
— Rebecca Keegan (@ThatRebecca) March 3, 2018
Rita won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her work in the movie musical West Side Story, which nabbed 10 awards that night including Best Picture.
According to her memoir published in 2013, Rita actually found out about her nomination while shooting a film in the Philippines.
“They would release me for only three days: one day to fly over, one day for the Oscar ceremony, and one day to fly back to the jungle. I didn’t care. The important thing was that I was going! I ordered a heavily brocaded dress made of special Japanese obi fabric, a gorgeous gown with black bateau top that I still have (and can still get into, happily),” she wrote in the book.
Five years later, she proved that she can still rock the dress while presenting the award for Best Foreign Language Film. Rita currently stars in the Netflix family sitcom One Day at a Time.
Apart from Rita, Pitoy also designed gowns for other international figures like United States First Lady Nancy Reagan and Princess Margaret of Britain.
