Ah, yes, that glorious day of gluttony before the onset of the long, austere weeks of Lent. Not that I participate in either ritual, mind you. But I do admit that the idea of a decadent day filled with as much food and drink as one can stand to ingest, combined with elaborate costumes and wanton self-indulgence, does reign in my imagination as the ultimate in shameless debauchery, especially since I have never been to Mardi Gras and can only fantasize about what it must be like to party so, shall we say… earnestly.
Despite my uninitiated status, I chose to honor the French Quarter today by wearing a vintage Fashion Force top with batwing sleeves and a pattern of tiny gold Fleurs de Lis on stretchy turquoise cotton that my mother bought for me back in 1972 or 1973, tucked into my "fattest" (widest), equally vintage Levi’s bellbottom jeans, which I’ve also owned since the 1970s. I added lots of gold beads, a turquoise and royal blue crystal fashion ring that I found in Las Vegas last May, a tri-buckle belt I picked up at The Limited Too, a pair of Marc Fischer high-heeled loafers from Macy’s, and a gold-threaded Dea Dread for my hair that was custom made for me at Christmas by Thea Osato of Baltimore (http://deadreads.etsy.com/).
Purely for fun, I finished the casual but festive look with a sparkling gold Mardi Gras mask that I found last fall at the Maryland Renaissance Festival. Too bad there would be no bead-tossing in the somber halls of the Library of Congress today. Maybe I could start something…
Happy Carnivale!
Lynell
With that beautiful mask and those blingy beads, tonite you need to be catching throws in the French Quarter (or wherever the MG floats are parading..........someone said they cant go thru the Quarter anymore. That's sacralidgeous, no parades in the French Quarter on Mardi Gras?)
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