The goal of a step-and-repeat is simple: Event hosts are hoping talent and VIP guests will "step" in front of a backdrop, pose for photos, and leave, while the next person "repeats" the process. A step-and-repeat can be a great way to capture photos that put event host and sponsor logos front and center—and can also be a fun way to further an event's decor, immediately immersing guests into a certain theme.
Here are some of the coolest step-and-repeats and red carpets we've spotted over the years...
Peacock hosted the world-premiere screening and after-party for its new original series Poker Face in January 2023. The event, designed and produced by Bespoke Boheme, kicked off with an elaborate red carpet backdrop that evoked the main character’s road trip around the country. The name of the show, along with the Peacock logo, was cleverly worked in as street signs.
Photo: Line 8 Photography
During the U.S. Open in 2019, the on-site Grey Goose Suite served guests cocktails and showed live matches for the duration of the tournament. Epsilon designed the suite, which included a colorful step-and-repeat that evoked wings, created with tennis balls, rackets, and purple cocktail glasses. See more: U.S. Open 2019: 22 Tennis-Theme Highlights From Sponsors and Satellite Events
Photo: Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Grey Goose
In 2019, McDonald’s launched Beat of My City, a concert tour that brings artists to their hometowns and incorporates a fundraising element to give back to local organizations. The inaugural tour kicked off in New York with a concert headlined by hip-hop artist Teyana Taylor. It included an eye-catching step-and-repeat featuring yellow roses draped on a piece of chain-link fence, backed by a sign wall displaying the name of the event and the headliner. Narrative produced and designed the tour. See more: How McDonald's Is Getting Music Lovers to Raise Money for Social Causes
Photo: Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for McDonald's
The premiere of the HBO film My Dinner With Hervé, which covers the life of actor Hervé Villechaize, took place in 2019 in Los Angeles. The event, which was designed by Billy Butchkavitz, featured a step-and-repeat inspired by Villechaize’s first career as a painter in France. The title of the film was displayed within various framed paintings against a green wall.
Photo: Gabor Ekecs
Warner Music Group hosted its pre-Grammy party earlier this month at the Hollywood Athletic Club in Los Angeles. Designed and produced by Jason Morais and the Warner Music global events team, the star-studded gathering featured a monochromic color scheme, including a dramatic, black-and-white striped entrance and carpet backdrop featuring the Warner Music logo. See more: Grammys 2023: 30 Steal-Worthy Event Ideas From the Week's Most VIP Celebrations
Photo: Lester Cohen/Getty Images for Warner Music
Another step-and-repeat that incorporated on-theme objects was spotted at the ninth annual Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic, held in New York in 2016. The floral wall used greenery to spell out the brand’s name, and surrounded it with orange flowers and real bottles of Champagne.
Photo: Courtesy of Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic
The Orthopaedic Institute for Children’s Gala, held in June 2022, featured a vibrant superhero theme designed by Billy Butchkavitz. For a fun, on-theme touch, the step-and-repeat highlighted sponsor names inside comic book-inspired word balloons.
Photo: Gabor Ekecs
Charity: Water, a nonprofit organization that provides drinking water to people in developing nations, held its first West Coast gala in December 2018 in San Francisco. The event, which was produced by Trademark, had an entrance that juxtaposed Jerry cans—containers for carrying liquid that are also Charity: Water's symbol—with futuristic neon details. See more: How New Technology Helped This Gala Raise $7 Million
Photo: Claudine Gossett
At the 2018 edition of the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Autograph Collection Hotels—an associate partner of the Sundance Institute and festival—hosted a cinema-themed, winter lodge-style lounge known as the Retreat. The space, hosted in partnership with online script marketplace The Black List, showcased a step-and-repeat that was created out of film scripts. BMF produced the lounge.
Photo: Courtesy of the Autograph Collection
Freeform and ABC Signature Studios hosted a "for your consideration" event for the TV show Grown-ish in 2019. Working with AOO Events, the team transformed Lombardi House in Los Angeles into a college frat party, complete with lawn chairs as seating, oversize games, and an ice luge. There was also an on-theme step-and-repeat made from red Solo cups.
Photo: Troy Harvey/Freeform
For Mercedes-Benz's 2022 Academy Awards viewing party, producers Sterling Social were inspired by the Mercedes-Benz EQG vehicle, and took a bold, masculine, and sleek approach to the event design with a tonal color palette of black, pewter, and slate gray. The step-and-repeat was designed with black metal panels, dimensional backlit logos in varying sizes, and panels of live greenery. See more: Oscars 2022: Event Highlights From the Week's Most Glamorous Gatherings
Photo: Clark Studio
For the inaugural In Goop Health conference in 2017, a unique step-and-repeat embraced the day’s healthy theme: It was made of vegetables including lettuce, artichoke, radicchio, radish, red chard, broccoli, broccoflower, mini romaine, and wheat grass. The wall was created by floral designer Eric Buterbaugh. See more: See Inside Gwyneth Paltrow’s $1,500-Per-Ticket Wellness Summit
Photo: Emma Feil
Part of Vanity Fair's annual Campaign Hollywood series of Oscar week events in 2019, the publication teamed up with Lancôme, director Ava DuVernay, and musician and actress Zendaya for a private cocktail reception honoring women in Hollywood. The stylish reception had a hanging step-and-repeat made from past Vanity Fair covers and other portraits of prominent women in the industry.
Photo: Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Vanity Fair
Forbes Travel Guide celebrated its 60th anniversary with a star-studded dinner in Beverly Hills in 2018. Designer Marc Friedland handled decor, and an elegant step-and-repeat floral wall formed the shape of a V—a nod to the guide’s “Verified” listings.
Photo: Courtesy of Forbes Travel Guide
During the Emmys in 2017, Hulu hosted a viewing party and after-party designed and produced by 15/40. The event featured a step-and-repeat with wood plank walls and metal planters filled with lavender. Decor focused on The Handmaid’s Tale, the evening’s winner for Outstanding Drama Series; the Hulu and Handmaid’s Tale logos were back-lit and mounted onto the walls, and dramatic scenes from the show were displayed in custom eight-by-eight lightboxes. See more: Emmys 2017: Inside the Glitzy Gatherings From the Television Academy, HBO, Fox, and More
Photo: Line 8 Photography
For the New York launch of Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila in August 2021, Rose Gold Collective built a summery space that incorporated the brand's logo in subtle, stylish ways—like in this floral-covered step-and-repeat that incorporated 818 Tequila shipping boxes. See more: 10 Subtle Branding Ideas From the Launch of Kendall Jenner's Tequila Brand
Photo: Sophie Sahara
For Netflix's Green Eggs & Ham premiere in 2019, Netflix tapped event production company ROCK+PAPER to create an outdoor, family friendly experience inspired by the series' setting of Meepville. Series stars, including Diane Keaton, Ilana Glazer, Adam Devine, and Keegan-Michael Key, walked the green carpet, which featured mechanical arms holding skillets and plates of—what else?—green eggs and ham.
Photo: Marissa Joy Photography
At Coachella 2017, Lucky Brand worked with BMF to create an eye-catching, three-dimensional press wall that included such all-American items as a flag, denim, and other props—and of course, plenty of Lucky logos.
Photo: Alesandra Dubin/BizBash
In 2018, to celebrate the first season of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Netflix and MKG built an immersive, interactive house for the premiere party, then opened it to fans. The step-and-repeat area, where both cast members and fans had a chance to pose, used 3D silhouettes and trees to evoke imagery from the show. (After the premiere, images of the show's black cat Salem, posing dutifully for the cameras, were a big hit on social media.) See more: Netflix's Spooky 'Sabrina' Premiere Asks Guests to Choose Between Light and Dark
Photo: Marissa Joy Photography
The premiere of Amazon’s Prime Video’s series Homecoming, starring Julia Roberts, took place in 2018 in Los Angeles. For the arrivals area, Swisher Productions and 15/40 incorporated live fish tanks—branded with Prime Video logos to make a sort-of pseudo-step-and-repeat—to evoke the main character’s office. The carpet also featured a live palm wall, a reference to the show’s Florida setting.
Photo: Jordan Strauss/January Images
