You know the Academy Awards are just around the corner when you spot a number of able-bodied workers on a cordoned-off strip of Hollywood Blvd., unspooling coiled lengths of cardinal fabric and painstakinly fitting them together into the Oscars Red Carpet. We learned many fascinating tidbits about the carpet itself this time last year (it hails from Dalton, Ga., where it takes five days to dye it the proprietary shade of Oscar red!), but this year, we thought we'd simply take a quiet moment to admire the most fabled and glamorous red carpet of them all—how many rugs are hounded by the paparazzi?—before it's punctured and crushed beneath the weight of an army of P.R. handlers' Jimmy Choo heels, feverishly criss-crossing its expanse in an effort to ensure their clients successfully circumvent Joan Rivers' probing sideline heckles of "Who are you wearing?" typically followed by "And who are you?!"

[Photo: Getty Images]

• Previously: Everything You Didn't Want To Know About The Oscars Red Carpet [Defamer]

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