It had a split. It was almost backless, and it had this very fine filigree thing that held the front together with a sort of Eastern motif fit. I can't explain what it's like, kind of an Asian-looking in the center of my dress.
And then for earrings, a pair created by a girlfriend I've had since I was seventeen years old, Corina Gordon, a designer who's showing now at Saks. I wore her prized earrings, her diamond earrings which were amazing. And when I tried them on the day before and decided I was going to wear them for the Oscar party, a lady came up to me and bought them right off my ears! So, not only did I make these earrings famous for Corina, but I sold them. That felt really good and I'm really appreciative because the buyer realized I was going to wear them and said that even though she paid for these I could go ahead with my plan to wear them, so I have to thank her for that.
Anyway, the reason I went to the Children Uniting Nations/Billboard Academy Awards party, was because I was being honored by Children Uniting Nations (CUN), which is an organization that is trying to do what they can to help the foster kids in this country. What they're doing and what I've been involved with for a number of years with Daphna Ziman, who runs this organization, is finding people to be mentors, both academic mentors and emotional mentors for foster kids.
One of the things we do is put on Day of the Child. We do it in New York, and we do it in LA, once a year. We put on this great big festival, a great space with music and rides and everything. And the foster kids come out and are paired up with people who've come and decided they want to spend the day, either with their family or without, but with foster kids. And at the end of that day, they're invited, if they want, to become a mentor. By being a mentor, you spend one day a month or so many hours a week with this child, and CUN trains you for this. It's a fantastic opportunity for people, because a lot of people I meet say, "Gosh, I wish I had children," or "I had children, but now they've gone." Or, "I used to be a teacher and now I'm not teaching, but there's so much I wish I could, and I wish I could make a difference."
Here's an amazing opportunity for people to make a difference with a commitment that pretty much everyone can keep. And these kids have no one in their life, no one. Once they're taken away from their families, they're in a system. And in the system, everyone who cares for them is paid to care for them. So the mentor becomes the only person that is there just because they want to be there, because they care. And the kids need this. They need this desperately and with great mentors it's really a win-win situation all around.
