The Oscars are stripped of their traditional red carpet

The path to the main film award lies on a champagne-colored track

A lot has changed at the Oscars in recent years, but over the course of six decades at least one constant has remained: the red carpet. Her shades changed from time to time, but it was always some shade of red. And now this constancy has come to an end – for the first time since 1961, the carpet at the Academy Awards ceremony will not be scarlet, red, or even dark pink.

Last week, workers laid out a champagne-colored carpet in front of the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, according to the Associated Press.

American showman Jimmy Kimmel, who is hosting the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday, commented on the change in the traditional color of the carpet, not without humor: “I think the decision to use a champagne carpet instead of a red carpet shows how confident we are that no blood will be shed.”

The decision to change the color was made by creative consultants Lisa Love, longtime Vogue collaborator, and Raul Avila, creative director of the glamorous Met Gala in New York, according to the Associated Press.

The history of the Oscars red carpet dates back to the 1961 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 Best Actor. , and there was still a “youth award” that went to Hayley Mills for her performance in Pollyanna. This, the Associated Press recalls, was the first televised ceremony to be broadcast on ABC. The general public did not see the red carpet in all its glory on television until 1966, when the Oscars were first broadcast in color.

According to Lisa Love, there has been no debate about this change in the color of the Oscar carpet. The creatives simply knew they had the freedom to deviate from tradition. They also tried other colors, but they seemed too dark because of the covered tent, which this year they decided to protect the passage of stars along the path from possible bad weather. “We chose this beautiful Sienese, saffron color that is reminiscent of sunset because it’s the sunset before the golden hour,” Love said.

Academy Film Director General Bill Kramer approved the innovation. The hosts weren’t particularly worried about upsetting Oscar traditionalists either.

“Someone always finds a way to find something wrong with something,” Lich Love said. “It’s just lightness, and I hope people like it. This does not mean that it will always be a champagne carpet.”