Where Every Visitor
Becomes Mardi Gras Royalty
At the Mardi Gras Museum of Imperial Calcasieu, visitors do more than look at incredible costumes. They step into them.
Fact Sheet
Client
Mardi Gras Museum of Imperial Calcasieu
Locations
Lake Charles, Louisiana.
AR Setup
Vyu AI
Try-on Mirror by INDE
At the Mardi Gras Museum of Imperial Calcasieu, the costumes are larger than life: towering headdresses, ornate gowns, and details you only appreciate up close. With INDE’s Vyu AI Try-On Mirror, visitors don’t just admire the collection; they step into it and see themselves as part of the parade.
In a few seconds, guests go from museum visitor to Mardi Gras king or queen, with a photo-real image they can share instantly with friends and followers.
Experience
The Spark: “Can Everyone Wear the Costumes?
The museum holds one of the world’s most impressive collections of Mardi Gras costumes, many of them fragile, hand-crafted, and irreplaceable. Letting thousands of visitors physically try them on simply isn’t an option.
The team wanted a new kind of interactive exhibit, something joyful, shareable, and inclusive, that would:
Let visitors “wear” the wildest headdresses and gowns without putting a single stitch at risk
Feel effortless and fun for all ages, not like wrestling with a delicate costume in front of a mirror
Turn a great museum moment into something that lives on in social feeds long after the visit
That’s where Vyu AI came in.
The Experience: One Tap, One Photo, Full Parade Mode
We designed the experience to be as simple and welcoming as possible. No instructions needed, just curiosity.
Here’s how it feels from the visitor’s side:
They spot the Vyu AI Try-On Mirror, framed and lit like a hero attraction, and tap to begin.
On screen, they choose from a curated set of over-the-top headdresses and gowns inspired by the museum’s collection.
They email the image to themselves and share it with friends, turning a museum visit into a story everyone sees.
The mirror counts them in and snaps a full-body photo as they strike their best Mardi Gras pose.
A few seconds later, their image reappears, now fully dressed in a photo-real Mardi Gras look and dropped straight into the celebration.
Want visitors to see themselves inside your stories, not just in front of your displays?
Vyu AI lets guests virtually “wear” your most iconic looks without ever touching a fragile piece, creating inclusive, high-impact moments that are easy for your team to run every day.
Impact
Vyu AI represents years of R&D into the future of phygital retail, recently turbo-charged by INDE’s developers using the latest in generative AI.
Our high-profile deployment with iHeartRadio gave fans the opportunity to bring premium fashion brands to life in AR, showcasing JC Penney’s special Jingle Ball collection. The activation was a huge success with a very active and social media-savvy audience, proving the intense consumer appetite for interactive, AI-driven experiences.
The collection, delivered by the customer on tight deadlines, presented a significant challenge for digital rendering. INDE’s team rose to the challenge and leveraged advanced computer vision to ensure the digital "drape" matched the physical experience of wearing high-end fashion.
On a practical note, the Vyu AI platform integrates directly with retailer’s CRM platforms. This enables brands to dress customers in an entire digital catalog, creating a seamless path from a virtual try-on to a personalized email follow-up, ultimately simplifying the purchase journey and reducing return rates.
Deliverables
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Seamless, user-friendly deployment..
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AR Software and Content.
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Custom Branded with featured baseball stars.
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Delivered via online dashboard
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