This year’s Oscars have already proven to be the focal point of many conversations, just hours after the star-studded ceremony ended.
Olivia Colman’s emotional speech after winning Best Actress is definitely up there as one to remember, as is Lady Gaga’s and Bradley Cooper’s perfectly executed performance of Shallow, and Melissa McCarthy’s dress-up as Queen Anne from The Favourite – toy rabbits and all.
And then, of course, there’s the stage – which many have said resemble something other than inclusion, which is what the production designer apparently intended it to represent.
So what was it about the stage which got people talking? Was it the 1,250 Swarovski crystal strands which were dotted around the sparkling blue and gold stage? Nope, although I bet that’s what the designer wishes it was.
Instead, it’s the uncanny resemblance to Donald Trump’s hair (wig) which people can’t seem to unsee – and it’s all anyone can talk about on social media.
One person wrote:
Wait, is the Oscar stage designed to look like Trump’s hair ?
While another tweeted:
The award for best actor goes to Donald Trump’s Hair for it’s spectacular work as the Stage Facade.
And another said:
Trump called…he’s mad that no one asked for his permission to use the likeness of his hair for the oscars stage…
Obviously, Trump’s hair wasn’t the true inspiration for the stage (we would hope not anyway). Instead, the stage – which was created by Tony-nominated Broadway production designer David Korins, of Hamilton – was supposed to represent ‘inclusion and humanity, femininity and beauty.’
When asked about the resemblance to Trump, Korins told the Los Angeles Times:
Oh. Interesting. I don’t see that, but I think that people see in artistic endeavors all sorts of things. You look at paintings and sculpture and architecture and people see what they want to see. And I choose to see one of inclusion and humanity, femininity and beauty.
I don’t know about you but I’d be pretty gutted if I’d had this massive artistic breakthrough, believing it to represent inclusion and using more than 1,000 Swarovski crystals to build the dream, and all people saw was Trump’s questionable hair. I mean, c’mon. It’s not exactly ideal.
Korins explained how he wanted to create a sense of community with his design to break the mold of traditional award shows:
The world is filled with hard lines and straight lines and us-and-thems, and I really wanted people to feel like this was an asymmetrical, warm, undulating art installation that was installed in this theater.
The rest of the stage was dominated by more than 40,000 real roses, with Korins saying he wanted to use a ‘perfectly imperfect object’ to be representative of Hollywood’s biggest night.
But again, many didn’t recognise his vision and instead said the design had a ‘Melania Trump Christmas vibe’:
Yikes. That’s pretty harsh criticism from, well, everybody.
Better luck next year.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).