Mardi Gras Walking Krewe
DAMES DE PERLAGE
Ladies of Beadwork
ABOUT US
Dames De Perlage was created more than ten years ago by Julie Lodato and Christine Clouatre. Each year a theme is chosen, and each Dame hand beads a corset, bustle, headpiece, and patch to represent their sub-theme. The theme is revealed to the public on Twelfth Night, and we spend the Carnival Season as well as the remaining year parading, reveling, volunteering, and beading our next year's corset!
Our mission is to bring awareness to the dying art of perlage, or beadwork, by reveling throughout New Orleans during the carnival season and for special non-profit events. We also hope to create a community of strong women who possess the soul of New Orleans and can represent the epitome of a New Orleans Lady of Beadwork, Dame de Perlage.
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Head Dude
Bart Colosino
We gotta give it up to Bart! This man takes care of so many things on the route and throughout the year. He also keeps us on tempo, driving our support vehicle, Pearl, for EVERY parade. We are in such great hands and we are so grateful!
Dude-ographer
Bill Lanxner
You may have noticed that this amazing Dude has taken nearly every image we post. We are forever grateful for his hours of work on the route and in front of his computer (editing photos). Bill is also a great musician! You can catch him drumming with Big Fun on the route (when Travis takes over on the camera.)
Dame Herder
Vince Heller
Where would we be without Vince? Probably 3 floats back, or hurt and on the street! Vince makes sure there is no Dame left behind! He also thinks of all things safety, improves our support vehicles, and helps us on and off Pearl all parade! In addition, if a Dame gets hurt, he literally peels us off the pavement!
BIG FUN BRASS BAND
Our band from the beginning! We love BIG FUN!
BIG FUN Brass Band is exactly what it sounds like—a high-energy New Orleans-style brass band with the sole focus of bringing the Fun. The group is extremely versatile, performing in a range of styles from traditional second line music for parades, top-40s set for weddings and the like, then finally & most prominently, a late-night party setlist focused on originals written by the group along with other banging covers to keep the party going. BIG FUN is a group of close friends who have been performing together for the past 10 years headed up by Corey and Abby Bostic.
