Friday, April 28, 2000

Giorgio Armani had announced that Ryder would be wearing a black beaded ensemble from the company's 2000 collection, but Ryder, her hair lighter than usual, showed up in something much simpler. ``The Armani was see-through, so I couldn't wear it,'' she said, laughing. Instead she had on a Marc Jacobs midi-length skirt with a scalloped edge and a sleeveless black cashmere top she ``picked up in Paris 10 years ago.''

Ryder requested that Michael Lehman, her director on ``Heathers,'' present the festival's Peter J. Owens award to her. This was followed by clips from her films, including ``Beetlejuice,'' ``Edward Scissorhands'' and ``Little Women,'' as well as an advance look at ``Autumn in New York,'' a romantic comedy due this fall in which she entices Richard Gere.
At last night's dinner every place setting had a program with Ryder's photo on both front and back. The front image was her short-haired look; the back was in her turn-of- the-century costume from ``The Age of Innocence.'' When the award announcement came, Ryder opened the program and covered her face with it. Then everyone at her table followed suit.
At surrounding tables were a bevy of social folks, including local actor Peter Coyote sitting with Vanessa and Billy Getty and Peter Getty with girlfriend Jacqueline de la Fontaine. Gavin Newsom and Summer Walker were at a table bought by Armani in anticipation of Ryder showing his wares.
Dinner featured more rich courses than anyone should eat. Five hundred guests dug into a truffle and lobster gratin, orechietta with artichokes, seared tuna, a New York strip steak, risotto and an array of desserts.
  When Winona Ryder accepted her hometown film festival's Peter J. Owens Award on Thursday night at the refurbished Regency Ballroom, she talked about "the work" - and hers is prodigious, considering that the 26-year-old actress has only been at it 10 years. "I try to do something that matters to me," she said, pausing to talk between sips of her martini. Then she added with an ironic twinkle ". . . to pay for my houses."
One of Winona's houses is in San Francisco. You can call her the "Stealth Star," because she flies in under the radar as much as she can. "I live in San Francisco," she says, interrupting to hug and kiss one of her old friends who had come to honor her. "I have an apartment in New York, but I'm here all the time. Nobody knows. .. . You can't stay away. I'm a San Franciscan to the bone."
Ms. Winona, with her porcelain complexion, intelligent eyes and penchant for throwaway style, is a baby fashion icon to be reckoned with. Originally slated to wear a filmy black concoction by Giorgio Armani that was, she says, "too transparent," she put together a fashionista outfit - black blousson by Mar c Jacobs, black scallop-hem skirt by Helmut Lang and a faux-shaved chinchilla coat by Martin Sitbon. She could probably wear a burlap sack and still look radiant and girlish.
Adding to the star power of the night was Edie Adams, who came with old pal Denise Hale. Hale's neck was covered with a choker of rhinestones, but on her they look like diamonds. Adams, who will be debriefed Friday night at the Castro Theater about working with Billy Wilder and being married to the greatest TV comic of them all, Ernie Kovacs, met briefly with Winona, who was thrilled.
Lest we forget Peter J. Owens, the late, lamented bon vivant who squired some of San Francisco's most beautiful, the man whose legacy was to celebrate native-born talent, one of those talents, Robin Collins, had a few words.
"I miss Peter Owens soooo much," Collins said. "He was such a gentleman. I dated him. I catered his parties. He did a great James Mason. And he would have loved this party."
 
 

THE CATCHER IN THE RYDER/ Winona Ryder

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