NEWO LEANS ADVOCATE THE
2018-19 DEBUTANTE COTERIE
VIBRANT
LEGACY
Le Debut des Jeunes Filles de la Nouvelle Orleans
The Bachelors ’ Club
Annie Gandolfo Smith holds her crown
A photo from Annie Gandolfo Smith’s debutante year.
The Original Illinois Club
ter Cotillion The Mid-Win
Debutantes enjoy a rich tradition of parties and presentations BY R. STEPHANIE BRUNO Special to The Advocate
Annie Gandolfo Smith remembers well 1956, the year she made her debut. “It was more fun than you can believe,” said Smith, whose sister Margee Gandolfo Farris also made her debut. “I knew a lot of the other girls, and we went to each other’s parties for what seemed like months and months.” Today at 82, Smith is the recently retired co-owner of the Needlework Vault, a busi-
ness that specializes in needlepoint and knitting. As debutante Ann Marie Maloney Gandolfo, she appeared in the courts of Nereus, Athenians and Prophets of Persia, and she reigned as queen of Dorians the same year. She also recalls vividly her own mother’s distress when she learned that Smith’s daughter, Nancy, chose not to make a debut. “My mother was so upset that Nancy wrote her a seven-page letter — front and back — explaining her decision. She wanted my mother to understand, but I don’t think
she could,” she said. For generations, young New Orleans wom-en have been presented to society when they y reach marrying age. “It’s a European tradition that came over with our French and Spanish ancestors. Young women of society were presented to d the king, and even Queen Elizabeth received debutantes until sometime in the 1950s,” said Jamie Charbonnet, an amateur historian. “It was meant to ensure that they
ä See LEGACY, page 15G
Annie Gandolfo Smith
Another season of gloves and gowns begins in New Orleans
Nell Nolan
SOCIETY
A legacy within many families, the debutante season in New Orleans contributes much to the city’s traditions and economy. Quite a few mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers of current debutantes made their curtsies in years past. The season runs for months, starting in the summer for several dozen debutantes, who are spotlighted at a whitegown presentation. From that time on, preparations are made for additional presentations (in some cases), parties
and appearances in one or more Carnival courts. Mardi Gras concludes the season. Prior to their year, a number of the debutantes have been in balls as pages, princesses or court maids. Le Debut des Jeunes Filles de la Nouvelle Orleans presents its debutantes, who are usually 20 or 21 years old, in early summer. Successive presenting cotillions are the Bachelors’ Club, the Debutante Club, the Pickwick Club, the Mid-Winter Cotillion, the Young Men Illinois Club and the Original Illinois Club.
The latter two combine a formal presentation with a Carnival ball and honor young women, who are usually between 17 and 20. These organizations introduce approximately 50 to 70 “official” debutantes, some of them curtsying in more than one cotillion. The debutantes’ parties can be small, intimate gatherings or thematically lavish ones, costing tens of thousands of dollars and featuring top-name event planners, bands (such as Maroon 5 in 2015) and entertainers.