The Mardi Gras Museum

Tucked away in the historic garden district of Lake Charles, surrounded by centuries-old live oak trees, is a quirky old school turned art gallery and museum that houses an incredible collection of costumes, artifacts and cultural heritage chronicling the history of Louisiana’s second largest Mardi Gras celebration. 

Carnival and Mardi Gras in the Imperial Calcasieu region (the area now made up of Calcasieu, Cameron, Allen, Jefferson Davis, and Beauregard Parishes in Southwest Louisiana) dates back to 1895 and began as many Mardi Gras celebrations did, with a small parade and a party. The parade, starting and ending at the City Docks (now the site of the Lake Charles Civic Center), weaved its way through the city and was capped off with a lively community dance and party, held upstairs from the City Farmers Market. 

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Taking short breaks for World Wars, small Mardi Gras celebrations continued in Southwest Louisiana. The many Mardi Gras krewes of the area held individual parades and parties to showcase the elaborate themed costumes of their krewes at great expense; those expenses ballooned along with the pageantry, and in 1980, Anne Monlezun, known as the “Mother of Mardi Gras” in Lake Charles, founded The Krewe of Krewes Organization. This umbrella organization brought the Krewes, each with their unique motifs, under one roof for a giant public display of Mardi Gras glitz and glam,  not only cutting costs for each krewe but also creating more spectacle for the city to enjoy. With over seventy krewes in Southwest Louisiana today, Krewe of Krewes’ Twelfth Night Celebration continues to enthrall residents and visitors every year at the Lake Charles Civic Center, right back where Southwest Louisiana Mardi Gras began.

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Monlezun worked in costume design for Krewe de la Famille, a krewe she and her husband, Dr. Lee Monlezun, founded in 1979. Wanting more than just one evening of pageantry, she longed for a space to display her own and other krewes’ elaborate ensembles. In 1997, she began collecting outfits, starting with her own, and within a year had collected enough to open the Mardi Gras Museum of Imperial Calcasieu. 

The museum is located within the Central School Arts and Humanities Center, which was built  in 1912 by New Orleans architectural firm Favrot & Livaudais and operated as a school until 1976. In 1992, Central School was deemed a fire hazard and the few cultural organizations operating within, including the Arts and Humanities Council of Southwest Louisiana (then the Calcasieu Arts and Humanities Council), were forced to vacate. The citizens rallied, voting in a temporary tax that would restore and redevelop the building into an arts and humanities center. Today the building still houses the Arts Council as well as theatre programs, studios featuring local artists, and social organizations. 

“Each costume typically would cost someone on average $1,000–$6,000, and most people only wear theirs once. It’s the equivalent of buying a wedding dress once a year, every year. That’s a huge testament to how much people care about Mardi Gras here in our part of the state.”

Originally occupying just two rooms of Central School, the Mardi Gras Museum now takes up the entire second floor of the East Wing of the building. The collection of costumes has grown to an eye-popping 290 on display, with another 300 in storage. The museum contains the largest collection of costumes in the South, with an admirably eclectic selection at that. Each krewe votes to pick a different theme each year and builds costumes to reflect that theme. The themes displayed at the museum range from traditional Mardi Gras to Arabian Nights and even Disney-themed outfits.

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The oldest costumes in the museum date back to 1962. They’re from the President’s Ball, held annually in Washington D.C. for Louisiana lawmakers and guests.  The celebrations in our nation’s capital began in 1944, and have happened annually ever since. Kings of the ball are always Louisiana lawmakers, and the queen of the ball is usually a Louisiana festival pageant queen. The costumes worn in 1962 are made of a brilliant silver and white fabric with silver sequins. The queen’s costume includes a large plush fur train made of Louisiana rabbit fur. The royalty adorned in these particular costumes were Lake Charles natives Her Royal Majesty Queen Rebekah Jo Hannie, and His Royal Majesty King Voris King, a very active civic leader. The dignitaries at the party that year weren’t limited to royalty. The ball was also attended by President John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy. 

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In 1993 Mardi Gras fell on Valentine’s Day, yielding an entire season of “love” themed costumes. The outfits of Krewe de la Famille that year representing “Love and Marriage” make up one of the more unique displays in the museum. The Captain’s costume, representing “love,” was made of imported peach and teal velvet highlighted with a profusion of silver sequins and rhinestones over the entire gown. It also features a collar of peach feather plumes adorned with doves, cherubs and interlocking wedding rings. The Co-Captain’s outfit included a massive collar featuring a tiered wedding cake, interlocking hearts, and wedding bells. 

It can take two to six months to complete a costume. “Each costume typically would cost someone on average $1,000–$6,000, and most people only wear theirs once. It’s the equivalent of buying a wedding dress once a year, every year. That’s a huge testament to how much people care about Mardi Gras here in our part of the state,” said David Faulk, docent and curator of the Imperial Calcasieu Mardi Gras Museum. The costumes are especially costly and lavish because they are all hand made with the finest quality fabrics. The intricacies of sewing the ornate details and sequins of a Mardi Gras costume can sometimes take up to nine months for a single outfit.  

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“It’s a big enough deal that there are six to eight people in the area whose full time, year-round job is just creating costumes for the krewes of Southwest Louisiana,” continued Faulk. 

The museum doesn’t just showcase costumes; it also features exhibits displaying the history of king cakes, animatronic mannequins, and a float that visitors can climb aboard and throw beads from. Less glittery but just as entrancing are the sketches that designers use when planning a costume or a krewe’s theme. The ability to follow the creation of the costumes from the early concept and design sketches to viewing the completed costume is a testament to the collaboration, creativity, and work that goes into every detail of each costume.

The Mardi Gras Museum of Imperial Calcasieu allows visitors to get a close-up sense of the pageantry and extravagance of Southwest Louisiana Mardi Gras that they would otherwise miss when viewing it from afar or in a photograph. The museum provides a unique year-round Southwest Louisiana Mardi Gras experience… and a strong argument for coming out to Lake Charles at Mardi Gras to see Southwest Louisiana at its sparkling best.  

Learn more about the Mardi Gras Museum of Imperial Calcasieu at visitlakecharles.org. For more on Carnival festivities in Southwest Louisiana, check our calendar listing.