Masks and Costumes Set the Mood for Carnival Season

By Ian McNulty

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	From top to bottom: Friends Ready to 'Hit the Streets' on Mardi Gras Day; Krewe of Colleen; Improptu Costumes Make for Last Minute Fun

Costuming is a tradition of revelry much older than New Orleans. Even the Romans were hip to the liberating effects of donning a simple mask before going out to party. But no other American city embraces the ancient pleasure and evergreen creativity of disguised merriment as much as New Orleans.  

During Carnival, and especially on Mardi Gras day itself, thousands of New Orleanians and playful visitors alike are masked or otherwise adorned in costumes. Born of fancy and humor, the tradition is nonetheless serious business for its devoted local practitioners, who take great pride in designing new costumes each year. Indeed, by the time New Year’s Eve celebrations wrap-up, many locals already have Mardi Gras costume planning in high gear, scouring costume shops, thrift stores and even hardware stores for components.

When it comes time to hit the streets, however, all these efforts transform the French Quarter and other parts of New Orleans into one giant outdoor costume party. Everyone is invited, costumes are the order of the day and the only rule is to respect other people and their property.

Becoming Part of the Big Show
“Costuming is the easiest way to transform the Mardi Gras experience from something you watch to something you’re a part of,” says Keith Kelly, a resident of Providence, R.I., who visits New Orleans frequently and always dresses up at Mardi Gras. “You become part of the big show,” he says.  

Costumes can range from a simple mask covering the eyes to spectacles worthy of a Broadway wardrobe department. Come Mardi Gras day, the span of a single French Quarter block may deliver encounters with a retired couple dressed like a Jazz Age tycoon and flapper, a group of friends costumed together as the guests of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, inevitable political spoofs and maybe even a baby dressed as a wild animal.

This sort of creativity can be viewed at various costume contests around the Quarter. Particularly popular is the Mardi Gras Maskathon, held on the lower end of Canal Street not far from the river during the afternoon of Fat Tuesday. One of the more outrageous displays takes place at the Bourbon Street Awards, which will be held for the 41st year in 2005 at the corner of Bourbon and St. Ann streets. Though it’s gay-oriented, with costume categories including drag and leather, the event draws a large crowd of onlookers of every orientation eager to see the inventive and often risqué costumes.

Impromptu Parading – Superpowers Over the Non-Costumed
Much more ad hoc but just as rewarding is the parade of costumes around the streets of the Quarter. In addition to the large, traditional parades that run along St. Charles Avenue and Canal Street, many locals and visitors organize their own homespun parades, loose affairs with no evident leader, route or set destination. Don’t look for floats or marching bands: costumes - sometimes coordinated, often not - are the raison d’etre for these processions. 

“The most important thing about a costume is the superpowers it gives you,” says Whitney Stone, a curator with the Louisiana State Museum system who lives near the French Quarter. “A non-costumed person in general has to obey a costumed person. They love you, they want to take their picture with you; you can even tell them to get you a drink and they’re happy to do it.”

Masking traditionally allows people to slip the bonds of their everyday identity, and there is a sense of personal liberty in walking the streets of the Quarter in costume, surrounded by friends all with drinks in hand. But Stone says her favorite part of the costume experience is the way revelers respond to each other.

“You find yourself treated differently, and that’s usually in a good way,” she says. “You get to interact with so many people in a way that you really can’t if it were any other day.”

Costuming and Masking For Any Good Occasion
Costuming is such a strong part of New Orleans’ image and identity that masks have become an iconic symbol of sorts for the city, almost as ubiquitous as the fleur de lis that endures from French colonial days. There are occasions throughout the year to dust off the mask and wig collection, including the adult playground of Halloween and masquerade frenzy of New Years Eve. Southern Decadence has its own gay masking traditions each Labor Day weekend and costumes designed for a hot day under the Louisiana sun have begun to emerge at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival each spring. On a smaller scale, locals may dress up for Bastille Day parades, St. Patrick’s Day and Twelfth Night, the Jan. 6 holiday that marks the beginning of Carnival season each year.    

As a result of all this activity, mask and costume purveyors flourish. Between the shops listed below, artists create masks and outfits for every mood and budget, made from papier-mâché, leather, feathers, even kitchen utensils, and ranging from sexy to terrifying to comic.      

Fifi Mahoney’s
934 Royal St., 504-525-4343

Little Shop of Fantasy
517 St. Louis St.,504-529-4243

Maskarade
630 St. Ann St., 504-568-1018

Maskarade Fantasy
1233 Decatur St.,504-593-9269

Momas Mask Shop
638 St. Peter St.,504-524-6300

   

 

Ian McNulty is a freelance food writer and columnist, a frequent commentator on the New Orleans entertainment talk show “Steppin’ Out” and editor of the guidebook “Hungry? Thirsty? New Orleans.”