The history and origin of the Cannes red carpet

Did you know anyone can walk the Cannes red carpet, provided...  ⭐  #Cannes2023 is just 3 days away!  *               .

Transcript

00:00Aishwarya Rai Bachchan owned it every time she stepped on it.

00:03Deepika Padukone walked on it, flaunting a wide range of designer outfits.

00:08Priyanka Chopra made her debut here in 2019.

00:15A galaxy of stars has walked on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival.

00:20But did you know you can walk on it too?

00:22You have to buy a ticket. And the ticket is not just meant for walking on the red carpet.

00:27You get to watch a film too.

00:29The funny thing is that many people buy these tickets just to get a look and feel of this

00:34much-hyped red carpet. They come, climb these 24 stairs, and then quietly make an exit.

00:43Did you know there was a time when the Cannes red carpet was changed

00:46thrice a day during the course of the festival?

00:49Now things have changed, for environmental reasons.

00:52The crew rolls out a new red carpet for celebs to walk once a day at 11 am.

00:58The move is also influenced by how dirty the carpet has got.

01:02So once the celebrities have walked or posed on it,

01:05the organisers have it cleaned immediately after.

01:10But did you know the work of preparing this rug starts three weeks before the festival?

01:15Once the festival is over, the carpet is then recycled and turned into foot mats for cars.

01:21In 2022, Deepika Padukone was caught twinning with the red carpet in this LV gown.

01:27Back in 2019, French influencer Fadela Mecheri had gone a step ahead,

01:33wearing a unique creation made of scraps from the previous festival's red carpet.

01:40The history of the concept of red carpets is complex and even grim.

01:44They arguably first appeared in a Greek tragedy play,

01:47Adamemnon, in 458 BC by Greek playwright Aeschylus.

01:52Clytemnestra, Adamennon's wife, rolls down a crimson-coloured victory carpet for her husband,

01:58the king after he returns home from the Trojan War.

02:05In Hollywood, the red carpet reportedly made its first appearance in 1922,

02:11when American showman and theatre owner Sid Grauman rolled out a red carpet at the

02:16premiere of Robin Hood at the Egyptian theatre.

02:19Actor Douglas Fairbanks became one of the first stars to walk on it.

02:23The red carpet was also considered a symbol of opulence.

02:27In medieval Europe, red was a colour of the elite since scarlet was one of the most expensive dyes.

02:33Not just the dye, hand-woven carpets themselves were prohibitively expensive,

02:38making them accessible only to a limited few.

02:41After Industrial Revolution, red dye became much more affordable,

02:45and the invention of synthetic dyes also helped the cause.