A Mardi Gras Tradition Lives On With This New Orleans Artist

Novice milliners learn the art of Mardi Gras-inspired self-expression.

Mardi Gras is in full swing, and les bons moments roulent in New Orleans as festooned floats and melodic marching bands flow through the city streets lined with revelers like the nearby Mississippi River flows through the landscape. The cacophony of sounds and colors merge to create an atmosphere like no other, and one in which people from around the world travel to the Crescent City to be a part.

It is easy to be swept up in the revelry of Mardi Gras, and dressing the part is a fun and festive way to join in the party.

Enter artist Ellen Macomber and her joie de vivre aesthetic that is perfectly suited for New Orleans’ Carnival season. With a permanent gallery on Magazine Street, at this time of year Macomber can be found leading headdress making workshops in her atelier at Martine Chaisson Gallery. Her headdress workshops began in 2016 when a friend suggested she host one for Halloween.

"It turned out great, and I did it again, and then again for Mardi Gras,” she tells Southern Living, adding that this is her eighth year hosting the workshops.

The two-hour workshops begin with a maximum of 20 would-be headdress makers gathering in Martine Chaisson Gallery wherein they find tables piled high with myriad materials from which to choose their accoutrements. Macomber notes that all of the materials are recycled, upcycled, or sustainably sourced.

"I try to make everything I touch better, but in a way that it's not harming anything else,” she explains. “The workshops are pretty much the same, so I couldn't even offer everybody the same materials if I tried. It is literally everything recycled (or upcycled), from Mardi Gras beads to the corks we pop off for the champagne.

"It's like the most amazing collection—little trinkets, glitter balls, feathers, textiles, sequins,” Macomber says. “You name it, we have it."

She also encourages makers to bring in that lost earring for which they still have the pair, or their grandmother’s costume jewelry, or even old decorations that they don’t want to throw away but don’t know what to do with.

"I always tell them to bring it with them to the workshop,” she says. “They can make it into a keepsake."

Once they’ve selected their materials, the makers are set loose to make their vision come to life, with Macomber’s encouragement.

"I give them a low down [of what to do] and they all have their workstations with their glue guns and their headbands or whatever it is they want to use as a base, and I just tell them to go at it,” she says.

"Every now and then I'll come in and yell at them about how fabulous they are and I'll pick one up off the table to be like, 'Look at this girl! Look at this person! See what they're doing?!,'" Macomber says enthusiastically.

Don't think for a moment that she doesn’t judge the headdresses that are made in her workshop. She sure enough does and lets the makers know that ahead of time, with the top 10 from each workshop showcased on her Instagram grid.

That said, Macomber has one directive for all of her workshop makers: "You’re free to be you."

In addition to her headdress workshops, Macomber partners with Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans to host mask-making workshops for hotel guests to create their own lewks for not only Mardi Gras, but Jazz Fest, too.

Macomber’s "Nine" exhibit at Martine Chaisson Gallery showcases her complete Mardi Gras Day ensembles inspired by the 9 Greek muses for which the same number of streets in the Garden District and Uptown New Orleans are named. “Nine” is on display through March 31, 2024.

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