“RouxGaRoux” on Parade: Loyola Students Bring a Louisiana Legend to Life at Chewbacchus

When Angelina Mandel walked into Intro to Graphic Design at Loyola University last semester, she didn’t expect to be designing a costume based on Cajun folklore and then wearing that costume while participating in a Mardi Gras parade.

After all, the freshman from Houston has never even been to Mardi Gras before. And she certainly didn’t know anything about the Rougarou, a mythical beast with the body of a man and the head of a wolf that prowls the Louisiana swamps looking for misbehaving children.

Yet, not only did Mandel get an “A” on the assignment, her design was one of two in the class that students then reproduced to serve as costumes for “RouxGaRoux,” a brand-new walking krewe in the Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus. The sci-fi-themed parade will take place Saturday at 7 p.m., and will follow a route through Faubourg Marigny and the French Quarter.

“Having our students participate in the parade is incredibly valuable – not only as a hands-on learning experience but also as a powerful recruitment tool,” said Daniela Marx, an associate professor and chair of the Design Department at Loyola. “It shows prospective students that this is a place where you don’t just study design, you create real work for the world to see. It is going to be a truly unforgettable experience.”

Mandel said the class started the project by researching the Rougarou, shape-shifting and wearable designs, and then started sketching. She said she was shocked to learn the students would be creating costumes with their hands in a graphic design course, but that Marx said it’s important to understand the analog as well as the digital.

“It was interesting to kind of come back and say not everything is about the computer,” Mandel said, noting that the project was initially intimidating because she doesn’t think she’s particularly good at drawing and art. “But that we connect our brain to our hands faster, and it’s a big part of who we are as designers.”

The students then created their pieces and participated in a fashion show to determine the winning entries that would be featured in the parade. Mandel’s design, a three-dimensional Rougarou face, will adorn wearable shields. Student Arin Dingledine designed the other winning entry, a wolf-like headpiece.