Celebration as the Oscars ceremony returns to Hollywood

Image source, Getty Images

Hollywood hair colourist to the stars, Erick Orellana, is happy glamour is returning.

Mr Orellana is referring to the Academy Awards ceremony, which will be held on Sunday.

The annual celebration of the movie industry had to be more subdued in 2021, because of the coronaviruses epidemic.

The ceremony was moved out of the Hollywood area. The event was held eight miles away at Union Station in Downtown LA, with less than 200 people able to attend. There were no parties leading up to the show.

It is a very different story this year.

Since 2002, the Oscars have been held at the 3,400-seat Dolby Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. The biggest few days of tinseltown are approaching.

Image source, Erick Orellana

Mr Orellana has clients that include Chris Pine and Gal Gadot. He says it is great that awards season is back to normal after two difficult years.

Now that red carpet events like the Oscars are happening again, we are seeing more business at the salon.

Mr Orellana is based at the Cristophe Salon in Beverly Hills and has been receiving calls and requests from Hollywood publicists, event planners, agents and managers.

While the Oscars are all about the film industry, the awards ceremony is also a key event and money earner for a host of other businesses in Hollywood.

After two years in which celebrities were not looking for new pieces because there were little or no in-person events for them to attend, the Oscars are back to normal, according to Michael O'Connor, a jewellery designer.

Image source, Michael O'Connor

The Oscars red carpet is a place where people like him can showcase their styling expertise, and work with fashion houses to create publicity opportunities.

The free gift bags that the top nominees are given is one aspect of the Oscars that always gets column inches. Distinctive Assets is not affiliated with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and is one of the leading providers of these.

The nominees in the acting, supporting acting, and directing categories have been given a bag of goodies over the past 20 years. The assorted contents of the bags are provided for free by companies and organizations that are chasing the publicity of the actors wearing, holding, or talking about their product or service.

Lash Fary, founder and boss of Distinctive Assets, says that this year each recipient will get gifts worth $138,000.

Image source, Distinctive Assets

A long list of items include a stay in a Scottish castle, skincare products, books, facial treatments, candles, a personal trainer, and a year's supply of healthy meals.

Mr Fary says that this year's bag is particularly meaningful as we pay tribute to a milestone anniversary and also celebrate the resilience of all involved after the challenges of the past two years.

Despite bad news globally, it is an important form of self-care to carve out a little room for the fun, festive, and fabulous.

Image source, Distinctive Assets

If nominated actors want to get even more freebies during the Oscars weekend, they can attend an event at the Beverly Wilshire hotel. Each nominee will receive gifts totalling $85,000, including a luxury Swiss watch, according to the boss of the promotions firm.

There is only one thing that the Oscars nominees really want to pick-up, and that is a winners statuette. The Academy Award of Merit is one of the most recognisable awards in the world.

Image source, Getty Images

Where to take your statuette after the awards ceremony? To one of the exclusive after-show parties. The Governors Ball, the official one, is back this year.

Cheryl Cecchetto, who has produced the ball for the past 32 years, missed it last year.

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Even as the band strikes up and the champagne glasses are clinking, make no mistake that there are deals being made amongst all those gowns and tuxedos.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce's vice president is excited to see the Oscars back in the area.

She says that the chamber is thrilled that the Oscars are back in the area, as the show brings revenues to many restaurants, shops and hotels.

Image source, Sequoia Productions

Many tourists flock to see the red carpet rolled out outside the theatre.

The Hollywood Museum benefits from this additional footfall. Donelle Dadigan says movie fans need to learn more about their favourite films in the weeks leading up to the Oscars.

The first Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel in 1929. The annual Oscars dinner and viewing party is $300 a head.

This year's event is a celebration of both our legacy as the location of the first awards and the return of one of Hollywood's most talked about parties.