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LOS ANGELES (AP) — 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.
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“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.

Crew members roll out the carpet outside the Dolby Theatre on Wednesday, March 8, 2023, in Los Angeles in preparation for Sunday’s 95th Academy Awards. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
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.
Red carpet photos from the 94th Academy Awards

This combination of photos shows promotional art for the films nominated for an Oscar for best picture, top row from left, “Belfast,” “CODA,” Don’t Look Up,” Drive My Car,” Dune,” bottom row from left, “King Richard,” Licorice Pizza,” “Nightmare Alley,” “The Power of the Dog,” and “West Side Story.” (Focus Features/Apple TV+, Netflix, Janus Films & Sideshow, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Searchlight Pictures, Netflix, 20th Century Films via AP)

Jamie Lee Curtis holds up a blue ribbon in support of refugees of Ukraine as she arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Jamie Lee Curtis holds up a blue ribbon in support of refugees of Ukraine as she is interviewed at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Diane Warren wears a blue ribbon in support of refugees of Ukraine as she arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Lily James arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Eva von Bahr arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Maddie Ziegler arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Tracee Ellis Ross arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Tracee Ellis Ross arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Youn Yuh-jung arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Amy Forsyth arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Renate Reinsve arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Jessica Betts, left, and Niecy Nash arrive at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Reba McEntire arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Josh Brolin arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Reba McEntire arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Jessica Chastain arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Kenneth Branagh arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Este Haim, from left, Alana Haim, and Danielle Haim arrive at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Wanda Sykes, left, and Alex Sykes arrive at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Lupita Nyong’o arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Steven Spielberg, from left, Rita Moreno and Ariana DeBose arrive at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Rita Moreno, left, and Ariana DeBose arrive at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Looking in background is Steven Spielberg. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Ariana DeBose, left, and Steven Spielberg arrive at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Jessica Chastain greets fans as she arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Jesse Plemons, left, and Kirsten Dunst arrive at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Nicole Kidman arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Este Haim, from left, Alana Haim, and Danielle Haim arrive at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Este Haim, from left, Alana Haim, and Danielle Haim arrive at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Nicole Kidman arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Looking on in background is Keith Urban. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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