Costume Society of America Symposium in New Orleans

I was very lucky to be able to attend and give a presentation at the Costume Society of America's annual Symposium last week. CSA's membership includes historians, researchers, curators, restorers, conservators, collectors, reenactors, living history interpreters, designers, and more - people of many different backgrounds whose common interest is the scholarship of dress. I think that around 350 people registered this year - a large turnout for CSA, but rather intimate compared to conferences in most other fields, I'm sure. I forgot to take pictures of the best parts (and the best parts were some of the presentations, which are impossible to capture in a photograph), but here are some other highlights that I managed to capture.

The symposium was held in New Orleans this year. I had never been there before, and I was not able to explore outside the conference as much as I would have liked - but I had some amazing food, including local specialties such as crawfish, redfish, and beignets. I would go back just for the beignets. I was not impressed when someone described these to me as "inside-out donuts sprinkled with powdered sugar," so I went rather begrudgingly to try some at Le Cafe du Monde, and was so disappointed that it was my last night there and so I would be unable to return for more the next day. They were amazing. Don't ever let anyone tell you they're like inside-out donuts.

This was the first visual that inspired me to take out my camera, at the Mardi Gras Museum in the Cabildo. I was really missing the boys.
The focus of the CSA symposium was not specifically Mardi Gras costumes, as presentations on a wide variety of costume research were presented throughout the 3.5-day conference. But since we were in New Orleans, it was natural for it to figure in prominently, especially at the events that took place away from the Westin Hotel. Here are just a few of the costumes that were on display at the Mardi Gras museum. This museum visit taught me that the whole organizational structure, traditions, and history (and certainly not least of all, the costumes!) associated with Mardi Gras, especially in New Orleans, is far more rich and complicated than I had understood it to be.
Harry Connick, Jr. wore that one. Isn't he handsome?

This charming museum restroom facade celebrates another great Mardi Gras tradition: the port-a-potty.
These are some blurry pieces de resistance that I took during our "very own parade" at Mardi Gras World. It was utterly cheesy, and much fun.

These young folks are members of an Indian mardi gras crewe.As I understood it from the presentation, African-American mardi gras crewes dress up in exaggerated versions of Native American Indian costumes: A) To honor the fact that they share a history of struggle against oppressors, and B) Out of respect for Native American Indians because they managed never to be fully enslaved. I'm definitely not an expert on this, so don't quote me. I was again impressed by the rich tradition and history of this practice. I thought it was just about getting dressed up in loud, tacky costumes and making lots of noise and drinking a lot of alcohol, but there is SO much more to it than that. All these young people are children or even grandchildren or great-grandchildren of people who founded the crewe. Roles within each crewe are very specifically defined, and passed down from generation to generation as an honor. These young people seemed really excited about what they were doing, and proud of the traditions that they were carrying on, which is why I enjoyed it so much. In actual practice, crewes roam the streets of their neighborhoods, singing and drumming, until they meet another crew and "battle." But it's a battle over who can out-sing and out-drum the other.

This is our keynote speaker, costume designer James Acheson, at a reception given in his honor at the local Saks.This guy is remarkably talented, and he is blessed with a charming British accent, both of which mean that he is infinitely more employable than myself. I'm barely fit to lick this gentleman's boots. We were really lucky that he agreed to fly in from New Zealand (or was it Australia?) in order to deliver the keynote address. He designed the costumes for many movies you must have heard of, such as Dangerous Liaisons, Restoration, The Mists of Avalon, The Last Emperor, Spiderman 1/2/3 (with more to come, rest assured), The Man in the Iron Mask, The Wind in the Willows, Brazil, Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, Time Bandits, and Dr. Who. There are a number of Oscars and Oscar nominations tied into those, of course. And that's all aside from his theatrical design work. Now you're really impressed, aren't you?

When there was time for questions after his address, I really just wanted to ask what it was like working with Leonardo DiCaprio. Fortunately, I stayed in my seat and kept my mouth shut.