DALLAS, Apr 1, 2003/ FW/ -- Something funny happened on the way to the red carpet of the 75th Academy Awards.

The Academy tried to be sensitive with the current geopolitical situation and 'truncated' the traditional red carpet walk of the stars on their way to the Kodak Theater.

The idea looked good on paper. It even looked good on the announcements. But on execution - it turned out not to be a good idea after all.

What the Academy failed to realize is that the U.S. population's appetite for information is already gargantuan.

It has been building up since 24-hour TV started. The information age which started during the 1970s has grown leaps and bound.

Of course, during that time, it was called mass communication - when the media were only TV, radio and print.

Who would have known that the computer will add another dimension to the phrase - "information on demand."

In his book "The Road Ahead", Bill Gates predicted that the internet will change how we look at information.

He used the phrases 'information-on-demand' and 'entertainment-on-demand'. He also predicted TV with 500 channels coupled with households with more than one computer all of them online.

According to the latest survey/report from Neilsen and Jupiter Media Metrix, 75% of the U.S. households are now online.

If you subscribe to satellite TV, you can enjoy 500 channels, and on cable TV, about half that number.

Hence the adverse reaction of the Oscar fans and the fashion press about the 'truncated' red carpet was understandable.

People are so used getting their information 'on demand.'

To give credit where credit is due, everyone tried to make the best of the situation.

As much coverage as possible was given to the Oscars. After all, this was Hollywood's biggest night.

There is a synergy between Hollywood and fashion. A celebrity wearing a designer's clothes has a lot of weight in terms of endorsement.

Nicole Kidman wearing Jean Paul Gaultier, and Diane Lane wearing Oscar De La Renta - both of them on the Best Dressed List for the 75th Oscars were seen by millions of people.

Since there were no interviews during the live coverage, it was up to the daily newspapers, weekly magazines and online publications to answer the question at the red carpet, 'Who are you wearing?'

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