Helen Bushby
Entertainment reporter

I'm just logging in for a night shift here in London and I must say... the champagne carpet is a very new look for this year's Oscars.

A dramatic red carpet provides a startling contrast for lighter outfits, while this year's beige-coloured flooring instead makes dark colours pop.

There's plenty of flowing fabric so far this year, with Top Gun: Maverick's Monica Barbaro looking stunning in pale blue and burgundy, an unusual colour combo that works really well.

Image source, Getty Images

And high-five to actor Harvey Guillen. He plays the endearing Guillermo de la Cruz in vampire TV comedy What We Do in the Shadows. His jacket is fabulously full of material, bunched up behind him and he looks great as he twirls!

Image source, Getty Images

Meanwhile Sofia Carson, who will perform Oscar-nominated song Applause with Diane Warren, is in a white dress fitted to her hips. It then flows outwards with a huge skirt and slight train at the back. It's not unlike something you'd see on a Disney princess.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava have just arrived on the carpet. Their lively number from the film RRR won best original song at the Golden Globes, where it beat heavyweights like Taylor Swift and Rihanna.

It's the first Indian feature film to be nominated for anything other than best international film at the Academy Awards.

Written and directed by SS Rajamouli, RRR stands for Rise, Roar, Revolt – it missed out on any film nominations, but is a historical fantasy that tells the story of two revolutionaries who fight against British rule in India.

Unusual fact for you: the video for the hit song was filmed in front of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky's official residence in 2021.

Image source, Getty Images

Test your pub quiz knowledge on those golden statuettes:

• No-one knows how the awards got their name. Officially they’re called the Academy Award of Merit, but rumour has it that when the Academy’s librarian, Margaret Herrick, first saw the statuette, she said it looked like her Uncle Oscar - the name stuck and the Academy adopted it in 1939
• The statuettes aren’t actually solid gold. They’re really made out of bronze and then plated in 24-carat gold instead and it takes three months just to make 50 of them
• An Oscar is technically only worth $10 (£8.40). In 2015, the Academy tried to prevent the sale of an Oscar statuette that changed hands for $79,200, claiming it had breached a rule - instituted in 1951 - that Oscar winners and their heirs could not sell statuettes without first offering it to the organisation for $10. A Los Angeles judge upheld the ruling
• During World War Two, there was a metal shortage, so the statuettes were made of painted plaster for three years
• Before the Academy Awards in 2000, 55 statues were stolen on their way to the ceremony; 52 were recovered nine days later, but winners were unaffected as a new batch was rushed out
• Each Oscar statuette is just under 35cm (14in) tall and weighs almost 4kg (9lb) and is designed in the guise of a knight standing on a film reel with five spokes that represent the original five branches of the Academy which gives out the awards – actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers

Image source, Getty Images

Actress Glenn Close will not be attending the Oscars after she tested positive for Covid-19.

The 75-year-old actress was among more than 40 other Hollywood stars who were due to present an award this evening.

A representative for the actress told the Associated Press that she was currently isolating and resting.

All of the attendees for tonight’s Oscars ceremony at the Dolby Theatre are required to test for Covid-19.

Image source, Lionsgate

Here are the films with the most Oscar nominations:

• Everything Everywhere All at Once - 11
• All Quiet on the Western Front - 9
• The Banshees of Inisherin - 9
• Elvis - 8
• The Fabelmans - 7
• Top Gun: Maverick - 6
• Tar - 6
• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - 5
• Avatar: The Way of Water - 4

A full list of the nominations can be found here.

Chelsea Bailey
Reporting from Los Angeles

To Colin's point - the decision to go from red to champagne-coloured has been met with mixed reviews.

In a thinly veiled reference to the Will Smith slap heard around the world last year, the host of this year's show, Jimmy Kimmel, joked: “I think the decision to go with a champagne carpet rather than a red carpet shows how confident we are that no blood will be shed."

I'll be bringing you updates from the Oscars winner's room tonight in the Dolby theatre here in Hollywood.

Image source, Getty Images

Colin Paterson
Entertainment correspondent, Los Angeles

For the first time in history, the red carpet is not red.

Officially it is champagne. When I was down there last night the word beige was being bandied about a lot. As were comparisons with your grandma's front hall.

The Oscars first introduced a red carpet for the 33rd Awards in 1961.

The decision to change the red carpet this year was made by a red carpet creative consultant. Lisa Love explained that a “champagne”-coloured carpet would help with “the change from daytime arrivals to an elegant evening setting”.

News presenters are simply never going to say: “Let’s cross live to the champagne carpet.”

I would like to predict here and now, that the red carpet will be back next year. In fact, Will Smith has more chance of returning to the Oscars than this carpet, which simply puts the “no” into Champagne Supernova.

Image source, Getty Images

A warm welcome to our live coverage of the 95th Academy Awards in Los Angeles - Hollywood’s biggest night - coming again this year from the Dolby Theatre.

We’re wearing our sequins, our snacks are lined up and we’re primed and ready to go!

We have BBC reporters across Los Angeles covering the night - we'll be introducing them shortly.

Stay with us as we bring you live updates from the red carpet where stars are beginning to arrive.