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.
In order to qualify for one of the coveted first retail licenses in New York's adult-use cannabis program, you'll have to have a conviction on cannabis-related charges or have an immediate family member who does. It's part of the latest effort by New York lawmakers to create a diverse and inclusive industry — but some advocates still have reservations. Amber Littlejohn, the executive director of the Minority Cannabis Business Association, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss. "We definitely applaud the state of new york, but ultimately the devil will be in the details as to whether or not this actually works out to create equity in the cannabis industry," she said.
Ryan Shearman, chief alchemist and co-founder at Aether, and Henry Elkus, founder of Helena, join Cheddar News to talk about the completion of an $18 million Series A funding round led by Helena.
Pete Davidson is heading to space. The “Saturday Night Live” star will be among the six passengers on the next launch of Jeff Bezos' space travel venture, Blue Origin.
David Daley, senior fellow for FairVote, joins Cheddar News to discuss the Supreme Court denying the GOP's challenge to congressional maps in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Actor Bob Odenkirk and his son Nate joined Cheddar News senior reporter Michele Castillo to talk about their new podcast collaboration, "Summer in Argyle," at South By Southwest 2022. The audio drama follows a mysterious death at a hot dog eating contest in the small town of Argyle, Ohio. "My son Nate wrote this as a podcast for him and his friends to do, and I said it's pretty damn funny," said Bob. "Why don't we work on it some more and make it really sharp, and then we'll get a bunch of pros to record it and it turned out great."
Sketchers is yet another retailer to announce its entrance into the realm of the metaverse. The footwear company will be launching virtual clothing as well as an experiential store in Decentraland.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in late February of 2022, many expected a quick, decisive takeover by the Russian army. That didn’t happen. As of the date of recording this video, much of Ukraine - including the capital, Kyiv - continues to resist Russian forces. The reasons why are complex and change day-by-day, so to help break it down, Cheddar spoke to two military experts. Watch the video to see their four key takeaways from the Russian invasion so far, and how it could come to an end.
Cryptocurrencies had a monumental year in 2021 and is showing no signs of slowing down. Cheddar breaks down everything you need to know this tax season if you are investing in crypto.
