Well, it’s going to be funny; I always like to be amusing when I can—there’s always room for amusement. I’m going to surprise a couple of people and just show how grateful I am—because indeed I am. I’m not only grateful but absolutely surprised. There always has to be one thing you say that is memorable and I have that sentence—you’ll know instantly what it is!
I can’t wait to hear it!
You know, the fact that I’m about to be 93…
It’s unbelievable, Rita!
You know what, it sure as hell is. I’m amazed.
Photo: Nisha Johny and Jonathan Jacobs
Photo: Nisha Johny and Jonathan Jacobs
What will you be wearing tonight? How did you decide on your look?
I’m working with Rebecca [Ramsey.] She found me that incredible gown that I wore last year at the Oscars. That’s one of the most beautiful gowns I have ever seen or worn. I just loved it.
And it was fun wearing the black wig, too. Somebody said that last year that I looked like Betty Boop! They were absolutely right. So I talked to my stylist, and I said, ‘I really would love not to wear a gown.’ Everyone wears gowns all the time, and there’s nothing wrong with that. And there are gorgeous ones to be had. But I said, somehow, this seems to call for a pantsuit. I would love a white tux, either a white tux or a red one. And she almost immediately sent me a picture of this beautiful, unusual-looking tux from Dior.
Tell me about it.
You can look it up, actually. It was on the runway. It’s so unusual and it’s very different—it’s not weird. It’s just a completely rethought. That’s the way to think of it. It’s a rethought classic white tux. I’m so lucky it fit me so well. Everything’s always big at some point but it absolutely suits me. It’s the perfect jacket, let’s say, for a petite woman. It is so in proportion. And the best part, to me—and I think it’s so effing chic—is that I’m wearing black shoes! That’s how they showed it on the runway. I’m wearing a white tux and I’m wearing black shoes. What do you call those shoes? They have a strap…
Photo: Nisha Johny and Jonathan Jacobs
Photo: Nisha Johny and Jonathan Jacobs
Slingbacks?
Slingingbacks. Yeah. I couldn’t think of the word. I can’t think of nouns. This is what happens at my age, near 93. Nouns are absolutely killing me—it drives me crazy. Anyway, you’ll see them. Just the fact that I’m wearing a black shoe with a white tux—I think it’s like the height of snobby chic. It’s supposed to be a white or silver, but it’s not.