Dead Socialite Attends Her Wake Upright and Dressed to the Nines

A famed New Orleans socialite and philanthropist made one last appearance in public—at her very own funeral wake.

Mickey Easterling died April 14, but that didn’t stop her from making a grand appearance at one last party thrown in her honor. Via the New York Post:

Instead of a lying in a boring coffin, the 83-year-old was dressed to the nines and holding a Champagne flute during a jazzy soiree at the Saenger Theater last Tuesday, according to The Advocate of New Orleans.

More than a thousand mourners including musician Allen Tousaint, attended the bash, paying their respects to Easterling, who was clad in an extravagant party hat, feather boa, and clutched a cigarette holder firmly in her cold left hand.

[…]

Easterling’s makeup artist said that he dressed her for the specifically for the occasion. “My goal was to make her look even prettier than she was in real life,” Steele told the Advocate. “Because she was a larger-than-life person.”

“It’s a really nice way to say, ‘The party’s over.'” said her daughter, Nanci Myke Easterling.”She loved the limelight. She loved the attention….She was flamboyant. She had flair. She was outrageous.”

As the Post points out, it’s not the first time New Orleans has had a funeral like this:

The occasion was reminiscent of another wake for Treme Brass Band member “Uncle” Lionel Batiste’s in 2012. The deceased drummer was wearing a suit and sunglasses while leaning against a fake street lamp.