Mardi Gras Invitations

At Carnival time, the Gilded Age feels as if has never passed in New Orleans when collections of old time Mardi Gas invitations come out for display. They are so treasured that many have survived and our friend Henri Schindler, famed Mardi Gras historian and parade designer, wrote an entire book about them, "Mardi Gras Treasure: Invitations of the Golden Age." I share a few examples here.

This year's Mardi Gras party invitations have already been received and the ballrooms will be filled until Fat Tuesday on March 8th. Nadine Blake, Nancy Romeu, and I (with the benefit of some fancy stationary printed by Christian Lacroix) put our own together for a small ball in the French Quarter that recalls these vintage invitations of old. I think our printing is as eye catching an example as those of a hundred years ago.

When we were working on them, someone curmudgeonly remarked that no one sends or pays attention to printed invitations any more. I do not think this is at all the case. A beautiful paper invitation starts a party in a way a virtual one cannot.