We Shall Overcome...In Couture!: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Honors Eunice W. Johnson

It was an afternoon of love, memories and celebration as family and friends gathered yesterday at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Temple of Dendur for a tribute luncheon to honor the late Eunice W. Walker, who passed away last week at the age of 93.

(Photo: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)

Carol Sutton Lewis, daughter of the late Percy Sutton, Gayle King, Ruben and Isabel Toledo, and Andre Leon Talley served as hosts for the luncheon. In attendance was a Who's Who of fashionistas and entertainers including White Social Secretary, Desirée Rogers, Wall Street Journal reporter, Teri Agins, designers Geoffrey Banks, Francisco Costa and B. Michael, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, Lynn Whitfield, Whoopi Goldberg, models Veronica Webb and Pat Cleveland, restauranteur B. Smith, socialite Susan Fales-Hill, director and chief curator of The Studio Museum of Harlem Thelma Golden, and Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson.

Desirée Rogers

(Photo: Kyle Ericksen/WWD.com)

Former president Bill Clinton made a surprise appearance as keynote speaker for the event, noting Mrs. Johnson's "ageless vitality". Ms. Rogers, who is a close and personal friend of the Johnson Family, read a letter penned by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, which lauded Mrs. Johnson's philanthropy and entreprenurship.

Susan Fales-Hill

(Photo: Kyle Ericksen/WWD.com)

Next to the luncheon was an exhibit of garments that were featured on the Ebony Fashion Fair runways. Linda Johnson Rice said of her mother, "I know my mother is looking down on us and all her wonderful clothes, thinking, ‘Wow, I did a pretty darn good job'".