WITNESS: On Oscar's red carpet: sore feet and torn dresses

Alexandria Sage covers the business side of the apparel and fashion industries from the Los Angeles bureau for Reuters. She has been with Reuters since 2005. Previous assignments have seen her covering the Michael Jackson molestation trial and a high-profile polygamy case in Utah. Come awards season, Sage heads to the red carpet and tries not to get her feet stepped on. In the following story, she gives a personal account of the hazards of the job.

By Alexandria Sage

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Holy shit! You gotta watch it!"

Welcome, readers, to Oscar's glamorous red carpet.

That admonishment -- directed at another reporter unfortunate enough to step on the long train of TV host Lisa Rinna -- offers a hint of the rough-and-tumble of Hollywood's most famous walkway.

The Academy Awards may look like a glittering, diamond-encrusted affair to the rest of the world, but for me, it's a long time on high heels in my roughly 18-inch (45-cm) wide spot on the press receiving line.

True, it's a two-hour adrenaline rush and fun to see what the most-watched celebrities look like up close -- some truly look fantastic. But it's also hard work.

The red carpet is divided into sections, and if you're some everyday movie studio executive, you walk down the carpet on the side of the screaming fans in bleachers. It's hard to hear yourself speak.