Mardi Gras Baby Dolls

The Mardi Gras Baby Dolls awoke to sad news on Carnival Day 2009: Antoinette K-Doe, a beloved New Orleans culture bearer who was instrumental in reviving the Baby Doll tradition, had died of an apparent heart attack. An irrepressible impresario, passionate Mardi Gras aficionado and accomplished couturière, Ms. Antoinette came to fame as the wife of the Emperor of the Universe—the late Ernie K-Doe, a flamboyant showman of mythological proportions who is forever associated with the 1961 R&B hit Mother-in-Law. She presided over the Mother in Law Lounge, a Tremé barroom she transformed into a shrine to her husband, whose career she helped revive. She died at the lounge in the early morning hours, after having worked feverishly on preparations for the festivities she adored and did so much to enliven. As would have been her wish, the Mother in Law, which also served as the de-facto headquarters of her Baby Doll revival, stayed open on Mardi Gras. The pervasive sadness, meanwhile, didn't stop some of her protégés from carrying on the tradition in style, as you can see from this MardiGrasUnmasked.com video.

The first Baby Dolls may have originated around 1912, in New Orleans's rough-and-tumble uptown red-light district, as a way for black working women to get kicks on Carnival Day, when male revelers came around looking for action and would stuff money into the girls' stockings. They dressed in frilly, sexually titillating Baby Doll outfits—typically short skirts, bloomers, satin blouses and bonnets tied under their chins with ribbons. The tradition caught on, enabling women to publicly partake in festive transgression—flaunting or mocking conventional expectations that required them to suppress their sexuality. The Baby Dolls traditionally are associated with the predominantly African-American Carnival celebration centered around the Tremé neighborhood.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Mardi Gras
• Baby Dolls
• Antoinette K-Doe
• New Orleans culture
• Carnival
• African-American folkways
• Treme