Photos by Carlton Mickle.

The Black Pearl joined the show shortly before Katrina. Rick had a new costume

made for her that he picked up, dropped off at his house, and then evacuated

for Katrina. The costume was ruined. I made this one at the start of the show.

We're making her a new costume in the next few months. Pearle Noir does a

tribute to Josephine Baker. She is an unbelievable good dancer and is simply a

delight to be around. I had to make 3 banana skirts before I got it right. The

bananas kept falling off. Black Pearl is also a singer and does a Josephine Baker

song. The coral colored outfit is what she sings in and was made from fabric

Rick and I salvaged from Tajma's flooded New Orleans East home. We also

salvaged lots of trims and thousands of vintage Austrian crystal beads. The

fabric was in a cedar chest. One year after Katrina it was still wet, but not

moldy. I washed it about a gazillion times. The beads had quite a few long soaks

as well. The satin is vintage and came from Wild Cherry. Everything on this

costume except the zipper, grommets and thread is vintage and at one time

belonged to a Bourbon Street exotic dancer. It's very special and looks amazing

on her.