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 After a year that saw the
coronavirus pandemic shut down in-person events
and replace them with actors on Zoom, sometimes
at home in hoodies and pajamas, celebrity
watchers are looking forward to seeing stars
stepping out in show-stopping gowns on the movie
industry's biggest night on Sunday.
"Red carpets are a huge part of award season,"
said Zoe Ruderman, head of digital at People
magazine.
"We saw a lot of leggings, a lot of tie-dye
sweatshirts, and it was fun. But I'm having a
little bit of Zoom fatigue and I'm ready to see
it live on the screen on a red carpet with real
pants and real high heels," she said.
Organizers have sought to play down expectations
of the kind of three-hour, 900-foot-
(270-meter-)long red carpet crowded with some
100 photographers, TV crews and screaming fans
that normally precedes the Academy Awards
ceremony.''
"It's not a traditional red carpet," Stacey Sher,
one of the producers of the show said last week.
"It's a teeny tiny red carpet."
But at least it won't be a Zoom event, with
so-called "waist-up" fashion. Instead nominees
and presenters, after being tested for COVID-19,
will gather together at the Art Deco Union
Station in downtown Los Angeles ahead of the
ceremony and by satellite links to venues around
the world.
It's not just the fashion moments that makes red
carpets such an integral - and much missed -
part of award shows.
They also give viewers a sense of spontaneity
that has been in short supply during the
pandemic, and boost TV audiences for award shows
that have plummeted by up to 60% this year.
"We all miss the energy and the escapism that it
creates," said celebrity stylist Chloe Hartstein,
who will be working with best supporting actress
nominee Glenn Close for Sunday's ceremony.
"I think the audience will be excited to see
beautiful fashions and couture and custom pieces
just because we've been so deprived of it. And I
think, especially at this time, we need a little
bit of beauty and art," Hartstein said.
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 FACE-TO-FACE
Celebrities are divided over whether the absence
of red carpets has been a blessing in disguise.
Recent shows, including the BAFTAS and the
Grammys, have seen some actors and musicians
pose for photos, but not always at the event
itself. "Often those red carpets
aren't just for the dresses and the glamour of
it," said British actor and singer Cynthia Erivo.
"Sometimes (it's) the only way you get to see
people ... because we're moving around so
often."
"I miss being able to look a person in the eye,
face-to-face, in person and say, 'Well done!'
and 'I've missed you'," she added.
Riz Ahmed, a first-time best actor nominee for
his role as a deaf drummer in "Sound of Metal,"
has welcomed doing interviews remotely rather
than having to attending the usual parties and
dinners.
"You're just sat there in your pajamas, throwing
on a jacket and you're away," he said. "I think
there's something quite grounding and humbling
about it."
Despite the hours spent to get the perfect look,
red carpets often bring surprises.
"That's where we see celebrities reveal a baby
bump, a new engagement ring," said People's
Ruderman. "So you have these really unscripted,
exciting moments and sometimes it's even more
exciting than the show," she said.
Exciting or not, former "Grey's Anatomy" star
Katherine Heigl is happy about getting a break
from the red carpet.
"I miss the gowns but I also don't miss the
gowns," she said. "They are very uncomfortable
... those Spanx - they really just cut off air
flow."
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant in Los Angeles and
Alicia Powell in New York; Editing by Jonathan
Oatis)
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