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Posts tagged Decorated shoes
2010 Muses Parade Review
215 years
Muses Title Float 2010
When you are number 1* other Krewes come gunning for you. The top krewes all compete like Olympians for the best floats, costumes, and throws. The other krewes may specialize in one aspect of a parade, that’s all the money they have after their membership has fallen after Hurricane Katrina & Rita plus the recession. They may have better floats, or throws, or great costumes.
Muses has satirical floats; the best throws by a mile; the most unique marching groups except for Krewe du Vieux; and an abundance of great bands. Unfortunately, because of Muses 2010 parade rescheduling, some bands were forced to drop out. However, some of the bands had no other commitments during the new Muses time and rolled with the krewe.
Here’s a mostly complete list of Muses 2010 throws, each of these have the Muses Logo- Shoe Bracelet, Seed glass beads, Strobe Theme Light Up Bead, Muses Ivy Bead, Shoe Necklace, Shoe Bead, Historic Shoe Bead, Diamond Ring, Puffy Key Ring, Disco Ball Necklace, Flashlight Bottle Opener Bead, Acrylic Shoe Necklace, a variety of Muses plush, Re-usable Muses Tote, Plush Cupid’s Arrow, Rhinestone Bracelet, Glitter Heart Tattoo, Can Koosie, Sleep Mask, Glitter Frisbee, Muses 10 Ball, Muses Patterned Bead Bag, Cloisonne Doubloon
Muses is the most feminine of all parades, the only other feminine parade being Iris, which has many men riding with them. All the floats show a feminine point of view to a large extent. There’s around 800 women in Muses (with a waiting list almost as large). Muses throws all types of spangled, wildly decorated shoes- high heels, boots, sandals, stilettos. Mid City could be considered a feminine parade because of the foil; however, I consider foil gender neutral
Muse’s personalized throws from the last couple of years, (incomplete list): over-sized logo powder puff, working lava lamp key chain, Muse comic book ( “SuperMuse”), full size decorated woman’s shoes, shoe medallion bracelets, roller skate medallions, Muses LED-Fan, Muses glitter stick-on fashion accessory, lighted shoe medallions, Muses Night Fever (parade theme), lighted medallion, plastic crystal lighted heart medallion, soft spear, headband, disco ball medallion, song spoofs and lyrics booklet, regular logo beads, and more. Here’s a link to a really cool youtube video we shot of a 2009 Muses LED-FAN throw. According to the Captain, the 2010 Muses threw a record 30 different items with their logo on them. Here’s a description of the Muses shoe decoration process by a Krewe member:
All year, we collect gently worn specimens — from friends, thrift stores and garage sales — then get together for Glittering Parties, where the wine and the glitter flow like … well, like wine and glitter are supposed to. Groups of gals sit around tables set up in dining rooms, garages or basements, laughing and gossiping as our fingers fly, applying white glue and ultra-fine glitter to one area of a shoe at a time, then letting it dry while we work on the rest of our stash. Once a whole shoe is glittered and the glue has dried, it’s time for a trip to the hot glue station, where jewels, sequins and other assorted gewgaws are applied to the sparkly creations. As a finishing touch, each shoe is “autographed” with the word “Muses”, painstakingly applied with more glue and glitter or with cut-up bits from signature beaded necklaces from Mardi Gras past.
Fabulous Muses shoe collection, photo by reeldrlaura
Muses Chivalry Float 2010
Muses Fiber Optic High Heel Sculptures 2010
Flying Elvi Group in Muses 2010 Parade
His Hers prop in Muses 2010
* Carnival New Orleans News Parade of 2009
Muses & Babylon Move, & Chaos Cancels
115 years
Krewe of Muses shoe collage
Muses moved to Friday night, rolling after Morpheus; Babylon moved to Sunday and will roll before Okeanos; and Chaos has canceled for 2010. Normally on Sunday morning before Fat Tuesday, Okeanos starts at 11 am, then Mid City at 11:45 & Thoth at noon. Muses is scheduled after Morpheus, which is the 3rd parade tomorrow, after Hermes & d’Etat. Muses takes a long time to roll because of their immense length and numerous walking groups, like the Pussyfooters, 610 Stompers and Flying Elvi. Could be a very long night tomorrow. Babylon is usually a brisk parade and may roll completely in the hour allotted.
There is nothing like the all female Krewe of Muses, which rolls last tonight after Babylon and Chaos. Now I love Babylon, and Chaos is very cool, but Muses is a different krewe with their own agenda, and frankly they kick butt! Muses is the only all female krewe parading at night. They are a very large krewe with well over 1,000 members. They have 30 throws with their logo on it, and they have in 10 short years developed a one of kind, collectible throw that challenges the famed Zulu Coconut- the decorated shoe! The above shoe collage, borrowed from the Muses web site , shows just how fancy the decorated shoes can be. Like Zulu coconuts, Muses decorated shoes are all hand made by krewe members & their families, and each is a labor of love.
The Knights of Chaos was built by Royal Artists last year, which gave the floats an old fashioned, jiggly look. Chaos utilized a relatively new kerosene flambeaux that are not part of the original set made for the old krewes. An ingenious and crafty krewe Captain studied the original flambeaux and created very close copies that work similarly but apparently don’t violate any patent.
Chaos also rolls on the old wooden wagon wheel float chassis. Now Chaos isn’t a very old krewe, and previously, only the oldest krewes utilized these chassis, as the wooden wheels are very hard to maintain these days.
The fact that Chaos uses these very old wooden wheels shows they are somehow connected to the old line krewes of Rex, Momus, Proteus, & Comus. It turns out that Chaos purchased the old wooden wheel cotton wagon chassis from the Krewe of Momus. They used them for over 100 years before stopping parading in 1992 as a result of City Councilwoman Dorothy Mae Taylor’s, aka the Grinch Who Stole Mardi Gras, ordinance to stop discrimination luncheon groups & Carnival Krewes.
The Knights of Babylon rolls first tonight. They are an old line krewe founded in 1939. They say they make their floats the same way they did back then. They utilize the old line keresene flambeaux, casting an eerie glow over the proceedings. Babylon’s sponsoring organization is the Jester’s Club. They don’t use the old wagon wheels, even though they are 60 years older than Chaos.