36 Sinfully Fun Pictures From Mardi Gras Over The Years

Take a journey through seven decades of Mardi Gras parties, presented by Getty Images.

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A float celebrating the life of John James Audubon, an American naturalist and artist, passes a cheering crowd at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, circa 1956.

Mara Vivat / Getty Images

Mara Vivat / Getty Images

A woman (left) dances in a hula skirt in a Mardi Gras parade amid men in costumes, circa 1955. A group of Mardi Gras princesses (right) ride a parade float in their formals, circa 1955.

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A trio of men in women's lingerie stand among the crowd gathered for Mardi Gras celebrations, 1938.

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A young woman tosses beaded necklaces to the crowds below in 1969.

Bettmann Archive / Getty Images

Bettmann Archive / Getty Images

A woman and man sport colorful face paint on Fat Tuesday, 1969.

David Redfern / Redferns

A high school marching band makes its way down Bourbon Street during Fat Tuesday festivities, circa 1970.

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A float carrying a cannon rides down the street with a sign that reads "Hurrah! The War Is Over," 1973.

Ernst Haas / Getty Images

Masked figures on a float are greeted by the crowd in a Mardi Gras procession in 1961.

Ernst Haas / Getty Images

A man in the street takes a swig from a bottle during Mardi Gras, 1979.

Ernst Haas / Getty Images

Ernst Haas / Getty Images

A reveler (left) appears naked to the waist with some help from a rubber torso in 1979. A woman in a brightly colored dress and headscarf dances barefoot with a snake around her neck in 1978.

Ernst Haas / Getty Images

A pair of men sport felt fedoras, red shirts, and rosettes as part of their Mardi Gras costumes in 1979.

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A beautiful and creative float resembling an astronaut moves down the street at a Mardi Gras parade, 1972.

Visions Of America / Getty Images

A group of friends in colorful costumes join in the festivities in 1988.

Visions Of America / Getty Images

Visions Of America / Getty Images

Two young girls (left) enjoy the Mardi Gras parade in 1988, while a woman (right) poses for a picture with her face painted as a cat.

Bettmann / Bettmann Archive

Zulu parade floats make their way down Canal Street as the first parade of Mardi Gras day inches its way through the Central Business District in 1987.

Visions Of America / Getty Images

Joyous spectators cheer on the floats and reach for beads during the Mardi Gras parade in 1988.

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Elaborately costumed revelers celebrating in 1988.

Bettmann / Bettmann Archive

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a San Francisco gay activist group, show off the gold-wrapped condoms they distributed to Mardi Gras attendees in 1987.

Bevil Knapp / Getty Images

A court jester float makes its way down the Mardi Gras parade route in 1994.

Andrew Lichtenstein / Getty Images

An unidentified man shares Polaroids he's collected of women who have pulled up their shirts in exchange for carnival beads thrown from the French Quarter balconies, 1992.

Leon Morris / Redferns

An unidentified band member leads participates in an energetic precession during the festivities in 2000.

Mario Tama / Getty Images

A man on a Bourbon Street balcony offers beads to women below in 2005.

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A group of revelers with cameras wait to capture a picture of a topless woman on Bourbon Street in 2007.

Robyn Beck / AFP / Getty Images

A man cleans the street outside his family's bar on Bourbon Street the day after Mardi Gras, 2006.

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A girl receives a toy from a passing float during the first day of Mardi Gras celebrations in 2006.

Mario Tama / Getty Images

Young Mardi Gras "Indians" participants join in the annual Super Sunday second line parade in 2008 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Mardi Gras Indians are comprised of African-Americans of inner city New Orleans' and their numbers have dwindled due to many members being scattered across the country following Hurricane Katrina. The secretive Indian groups began appearing in the city in the 1880's as an homage to the Native Americans who sheltered runaway slaves.

Mario Tama / Getty Images

Second Chief "Lil Bo" performs with the Wild Magnolias Mardi Gras Indian gang in the French Quarter during festivities in 2006.

Erika Goldring / Getty Images

The Orpheus Leviathan dragon float, with smoke and fiber-optic lights, rolls down Napoleon Avenue in the 2015 Krewe of Orpheus Parade.

Jonathan Bachman / Getty Images

People pack Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras in 2016.

See more pictures of Mardi Gras through the years at Getty Images.