If “setting a new world record” is one of your criteria for a successful event, then the first-ever National Underwear Day Parade would probably be considered a success. By all accounts, the party was a success in plenty of other ways too, as thousands of scantily-clad New Orleans residents rolled through the Bywater in celebration of body positivity and the fact that it was Friday.
Speaking of world records, the first-ever National Underwear Day Parade almost certainly set a new one in the “Largest Gathering of People Wearing Only Underpants/Knickers” category. The official results will be confirmed by Guiness World Records–who had a judge on site–in the coming weeks, but NOLA.com reports the pre-parade count reached 2,442. That’s 172 more than the 2,270 that gathered in Salt Lake City in 2011.
The National Underwear Parade was organized by Ryan S Ballard of the Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus and Xena Zeit-Geist of the Society of Sin. The people behind Chewbacchus have developed a reputation for throwing some of the best off-kilter parties in the New Orleans area, and they’ll continue that tradition in November when one of their marquee events, Ignition Festival, returns for its second incarnation
All photos by Marissa Altazan and Kim Welsh. Click here to view the full gallery on Flickr.
Photo by Kim Welsh
