The new Fashion & Fauna exhibit at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum highlights sustainability and state history with experimental ways to use alligator leather in apparel.
One thing that Louisiana is known for, even for those outside of the state, is that alligators are everywhere. As the old saying goes, “If water is wet, there are alligators in it.” They are all over marketing and memorabilia; you might have even seen one in your own backyard.
It was not always this way.
According to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries, there was a time when the alligator population was about 100,000 as opposed to today’s over 3 million. This is a world that LASM Curator and Public Programs Manager Tracey Barhorst remembers vividly, and she is glad it has changed…