The coronavirus pandemic provided an unexpected boon to Nick Perrett and his friends’ plans for their Mardi Gras costumes.
When the group of five hit centre stage at Saturday night’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras they will do so under the theme: “Use me up, wear me out.”
Their costumes are made entirely from rubbish and recycled materials.
Mr Perrett’s boss collected cat food tins and his electrician sister provided an old drum from a washing machine.
And he says the pandemic, which saw people move out of the inner city, meant there was a plethora of old stuff left on the streets that was perfect for their costumes.
For the first time in its 43-year history the Mardi Gras parade will not go down Oxford St but will instead be held at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Organisers say the 2021 parade will move away from the traditional large floats, which moved down the street, and will instead focus on costumes, puppetry and
props.
With the theme Rise, there will be 5000 in the parade from more than 100 LGBTQI+ community groups.
It comes as activist group Pride in Protest was on Friday granted a public health exemption to allow them to march down Oxford Street on Saturday afternoon.
The group argue the Mardi Gras has become corporatised and has moved away from the original movement’s 1978 roots, when the first parade down Oxford St was held.
With the theme Rise, there will be 5000 in the parade at the SCG from more than 100 LGBTQI community groups.
AAP
The case had been due to hit the Supreme Court on Friday before a last-minute exemption to the 500-person limit on public gatherings was granted.
Mr Perrett is taking part in his fifth successive Mardi Gras and it is the second year he and his friends have devised costumes from trash.
“What we assembled depends on what we found. We realised that there is so much waste generated from the costumes so we said, let’s make them out of things we found,” he said.
“We have such a consumer society, we are trying to get the message out about recycling and upcycling.”