NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – Rule number one for tourists at Jazz Fest: Don’t wear the official Jazz Fest shirt you just bought. You can buy it, but only out-of-towners wear the new design at Jazz Fest the same year it comes out—it’s almost as tacky as wearing carnival beads any day of the year except Fat Tuesday.
Silk screen artist Kathy Schorr says it’s easy to spot the locals wearing her art—they’ll buy her new designs, but not wear them to the Fest until years later- preferring the red beans, oysters, and alligators of years past. Schorr has created the design for the “Bayou Wear” clothing line every year for the last nineteen Jazz Fests. She says it’s a challenge to come up with a design that’s quintessentially New Orleans each year, but she’s done it again this year.
This year’s design is a drum set- cymbals and sticks included- done in Schorr’s signature shades of gold, rust, cream, and crimson. The line includes men’s short-sleeve shirts, umbrellas, aprons, women’s camisole tops, skirts, and dresses– perfect for a typically hot and muggy Fest because they’re made out of rayon that “breathes” easily and won’t wrinkle. Schorr is especially proud of the fact that the clothing is all American-made.
If you can’t get to Jazz Fest to buy a Bayou Wear item, you can buy it online, at art4now.com.