Mermaid Parade: A Plethora of Nipple Tassles

by MIGUELINA NUNEZ · June 21, 2010

    (All photos via Flickr.com)Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The gun-bra's and nipple tassles of this weekend's Mermaid Parade or Lady Gaga's machine-gun thing? Let's take a questionably NSFW look!

    The Mermaid Parade was founded in 1983 by Coney Island USA, a not-for-profit arts organization. The art parade is this country's largest and celebrates the mythology that surrounds Coney Island pride. Basically, all parade participants are expected to don handmade costumes depicting mer-creatures, and anything nautical, like the occasional yacht.

    Each year Coney Island selects a different celebrity to precide over the eclectic parade as King Neptune and Queen Mermaid. Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson were crowned this year's King and Queen.

    The parade did get a little political, especially in light of the devastating BP Oil Spill. Many mer-folk took time out of sewing sequences into their costumes to voice their opinion on the biggest oil spill in the nation's history... "Hey BP, Suck My Dick" glittered for all would-be mermaids to see. However, the politics must have stopped there since PETA's biggest fan, Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus were welcomed by the scantily clad sea creatures as they hobbled down the Brooklyn's Surf Avenue.

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    It obviously goes without saying that Sunday's Mermaid Parade in all its artistic and often terrifying glory is basically the source for our best-dressed list this week.