A crew member staples the carpet to the ground in preparation for Sunday's 95th Academy Awards, Wednesday, March 8, 2023, outside the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
By Lindsey Bahr
Many things about the Academy Awards have changed over the years, but for the past six decades there has been at least one constant: The red carpet. The hues have varied over the years, but it has always been some shade of red. Until this year.
On Wednesday outside the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, workers unspooled a champagne-colored carpet as Jimmy Kimmel, who is hosting the 95th Oscars on Sunday, presided over the occasion.
“I think the decision to go with a champagne carpet over a red carpet shows how confident we are that no blood will be shed," Kimmel said.
Jimmy Kimmel, host of Sunday's 95th Academy Awards, addresses the media before the roll out of the carpet for the show, Wednesday, March 8, 2023, outside the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
The decision to change the color came from creative consultants Lisa Love, a longtime Vogue contributor, and Raúl Àvila, the creative director for the glamourous Met Gala in New York.
This year the carpet will be covered, in part to protect the stars and cameras from the weather, but also to help turn the arrivals into an evening event. For Love, there has always been a disconnect between the elegant black tie dress code and the fact that it’s mid-afternoon when people arrive to be photographed in the daylight. With a covered carpet, they could change that.
“We turned a day event into night,” Love told The Associated Press. “It’s evening, even though it’s still 3:00.”
The Oscars red carpet dates back to 1961, the 33rd Academy Awards held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, when Billy Wilder’s “The Apartment” won best picture, Burt Lancaster and Elizabeth Taylor won the lead acting prizes, and there was still a “juvenile award,” which went to Hayley Mills for “Pollyanna.” It was the first televised ceremony, broadcast on ABC and hosted by Bob Hope. The general public wouldn’t see the red carpet in all its glory on television until 1966, when the Oscars were first broadcast in color.
There wasn’t any debate over the change, Love said. They just knew they had the freedom to break from tradition. They tried some other colors too but they seemed too dark with the covered tent. “We chose this beautiful sienna, saffron color that evokes the sunset, because this is the sunset before the golden hour,” Love said.
Instead they went lighter and Academy CEO Bill Kramer approved.
They weren’t especially worried about upsetting Oscars traditionalists either.
“Somebody’s always got a way to find something wrong with something,” Love said. “This is just a lightness and hopefully people like it. It doesn’t mean that it’s always going to be a champagne colored carpet.”
As for what we should call it? Love said “champagne” and “sand” are apt descriptions, but that there’s no reason to not default to “red carpet” either. It’s more metonym for the glamorous arrivals than a literal description of what everyone is walking on.
The 95th Oscars “red carpet” opens Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern. The ceremony is set to begin at 8 p.m. and will be broadcast live on ABC.
Chris Vecchio, senior analyst at DailyFX, joins Cheddar News to discuss what investors should watch as the three major indexes see wild swings all week.
On this episode of ChedHER: Avery Cyrus, one of TikTok's top LGBTQ creators discusses her partnership with Space Hero to become a citizen astronaut, and how she's using her platform on social media to give back; Boss Women Media Founder breaks down how she's empowering female entrepreneurs with 'Boss Business Showers;' Palmly Co-Founder explains how she's building a social networking app for Christians.
Rita Brooks, Co-Founder of Palmly, joins ChedHER to discuss how she's creating a social networking app for Christians, and her experience being a female founder in the tech industry.
Avery Cyrus, one of TikTok's top LGBTQ creators, joins ChedHER to discuss her partnership with Space Hero to become a citizen astronaut, and how she's using her platform on social media to give back.
A year after the r/WallStreetBets community on Reddit drove GameStop and other meme stocks to unprecedented heights, the subreddit seems to be losing its luster among retail investors. Caitlin McCabe, markets and retail trading reporter from The Wall Street Journal, joined Cheddar to talk about the waning popularity of the group “Users are going on to find the next GameStop, and instead, they're seeing many of the new users who have joined the subreddit still talking about GameStop and AMC," McCabe noted. "And, they've become frustrated as they're ready to move on from those original meme stocks."
Marty McDonald, Founder of Boss Women Media, joins ChedHER to discuss how she's empowering female entrepreneurs with 'Boss Business Showers,' and advice for turning your side hustle into a career.
Plant-based meat giant Beyond Meat's reign over the fast food world continues, as McDonald's announced that it is expanding its test of Beyond's McPlant burger, to nearly 600 restaurants, an increase from the eight that it's been testing in since November. This comes less than two weeks after Beyond Fried Chicken made its nationwide debut at KFC restaurants, the first time that plant based chicken has been widely distributed in a fast food capacity. Arun Sundaram, Senior Equity Analyst at CFRA Research explains why these latest collaborations may be proof that Beyond Meat products could slowly be becoming an unlikely staple in the fast food and chain restaurant world as consumers opt for more healthy food options.
Citi recently began collaborating with fitness entrepreneur Tracy Anderson to promote its Custom Cash Credit card. Pam Habner, CEO of U.S. Branded Cards for Citi, along with Tracy Anderson, creator of The Tracy Anderson Method, joined Cheddar to discuss how health and fitness matched up with a cash back credit card. "The fact that Citi is going 'hey if you lead a healthy lifestyle, we're going to help you out. We understand that it's more expensive and we're going to give you cash back for living your best life,'" Anderson said about the partnership, which also includes a custom promotional Spotify playlist.
Low-code app development platform Crowdbotics raised $22 million in a Series A funding round led by Jackson Square Ventures. Crowdbotics has helped more than 14,000 customers launch apps without having to learn how to code. The company can offer a team of expert developers to help companies launch custom apps, or provide the means for companies to develop apps themselves. Crowdbotics CEO Anand Kulkarni joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
