EASTER PARADE - Fifth Avenue, New York City - April 24, 2011 ( who says New Yorkers have no sense of humor?)

So really, how high is TOO high?

channeling Michael Jackson, are we?

why do men wear heels better than we women?

subtlety is not what the Easter Parade is all about!

 For a change, this is going to be a pictorial blog - after all, when do you

get a chance to see what New York's Easter Parade is REALLY like?

A New York tradition, it is less a "parade" and more a gathering of strolling crowds, bedecked in their Sunday finest or most frivolous, with attempts to create the most outrageous, highest and craziest hats imaginable.

Fifth Avenue is traditionally closed to traffic every year on Easter Sunday from 47th Street to 57th Street from 10AM to 4Pm.

the ever-elegant Lori

The crowds range from beautifully dressed parishioners who go to services at nearby St. Patrick's Cathedral to crazy costume and hat-bedecked revelers to 

Vintage couple (Helen's friend debonair Peter and lovely Jessica, who works for Helen)

vintage-garbed strollers from other eras. 

Women decorated their huge Easter bonnets with an amazing array of flowers and the men were as creative, if not more so, than the women.

Elegance from bygone years!

Victorian musings

...and the men who dressed in drag had the best make-up ever!

the shoes, the shoes...it's all about the shoes!!!

There were bunnies, dogs and cats in hats, not to be outdone by their human parents! 









This 18th century gentleman below stepped out of a cab - seamlessly blending the old with the new!

The parade had its regulars, too. Take, for instance, the bearded gentleman with the bird on his head and wings on his back - not to mention his tie-dyed pets in the carriage! (Just another average  New Yorker strolling Fifth venue!)

 










I like a man with a tie that makes a statement, don't you?

when in doubt, ACCESSORIZE!

 This gentleman even brought his own TV to the parade...calling Channel Bunny!!!!

There was a plethora of vintage folk - in our 1940's vintage dress, shoes, mink trimmed hat and sable stole, our Jessica was THE it girl this year with photographers clamoring for her picture! 

Even Helen got into the act with friends (centered with the Idiosyncratic Fashionistas Jean and Valerie). Why, Helen's picture even appeared in the New York Sunday Times with her chapeaux!

Aside from the snazzy men and the lovely women, there were dogs that were stars, too!

Between the day-glo coats of hair decorated with bows, the caped crusader pooch with the the flower-strewn cape and the puppy sporting the cool shades (that must be a movie star dog!)...it was really a Dog's World, wasn't it?
 it's no wonder that these sweet little girls were so bored!! Do we sense a "Mommy , I want to go home moment"?