

Caged Canary
and Spangled Cotinga

Hummingbird, Pheasant
and Caged Canary

Trinidad Carnival Diary
Disclaimer: This blog is not intended to influence anyone to play with any one Carnival band over the other. Even though I may be privy to information from many sources this does not influence my views and opinions;the views expressed are solely mine.This is a place to come and get a little carnival info (how ah buy it is how ah selling it), look at some costume pics, "listen" to me talk about mas and occasionally vent or speak my mind.Use with caution!
Spice opened their mas camp yesterday for viewing and registration, of course I went to check it out as they made a lime out of the event. I was a bit too early for the lime but did get a chance to observe the costumes in detail before more and more people came later on. Ok, so the showroom is all new and nice looking, a tad small so only one costume from each section was displayed and just two frontlines; Scotch Bonnet and Golden Basil. Photographs of the male costumes were on show. I inspected the costumes from top to bottom, checking out the construction, materials used, wear and tear after photo shoots/modeling and overall aesthetic to the eye of a potential masquerader.
But before I get to the costumes, let’s talk about the prices which are hot!! To tell you the truth once I saw prices I started to worry, worry about what is in store for TRIBE ( and Island People) if we are to use Spice as a measuring stick. I know for a fact that the design team responsible for 8 of Spice's sections, Richard & Anthony Productions, have also done backline and frontline costumes, some section headpieces, backpacks and 14 out of the 16 male sections for TRIBE! So, we can expect to see even more detailed costumes, bigger headpieces and some show stoppers from this design team AND the stalwarts of TRIBE. I shudder to think of what THEIR prices are going to be!
Spice's backline costumes range from $2695.00 (
And though, even after saying that, I might still personally justify a similar price for a costume I absolutely love in another band (best believe I am NOT going over my budget no matter how much I am in love) at least part of my justification will be based on some history with the band. Spice has nothing to stand up on, as yet, except for some attractive costumes. Hence the reason I thought as a new band, they might have worked their way up the pricing scale based on post Carnival reviews of their debut. Well, I hope that the level of organization we have seen from them to date will extend itself above and beyond when it comes to costume distribution, costume quality and the whole road experience; big money means BIG expectations!
As for the costumes, I took close up photos so you can see them in much better detail, click on ALL photos for a super sized close up view.
I am liking Melilot Blue backline, but Sea Salt and Golden Basil has my vote for the best overall costume in terms of pricing and product. I really, really like Sea Salt and Golden Basil frontline. On closer observation I am not feeling Peppercorns backline that much and I think it might be the headpiece, I wish the frontline was there so I could have observed the backpack as I still love it. Budget frontline H.O.s will love Scotch Bonnet, the frontline has a lot of impact (and A LOT of red) for $3795.00, compare that to Cardamom frontline which, coupled with Paprika frontline, has got to be the most overpriced frontlines on offer!
Cardamon's "frontline" is actually just a slightly bigger headpiece, not even as big as Sea Salt's massive headgear while Paprika's frontline is a WIRE bar and eight strands of beads (I counted) on a minuscule belt; this costume looks "inexpensive" and I cannot believe the pricing! Garden of Sage is going to be a seller, yes, wait and see, just based on price alone and the fact that you get that big feathery headpiece on the cheap; hey, some people might actually take to the neon green. Mediterranean Borage did attract a good bit of attention from what I observed maybe that is why it was one of the first to sell out; it is still pretty and a nice colour combination but pretty pricey. As for Brown Sugar, it is a sexy nude looking costume, but I still do not like the backline headpiece! Most of the costumes seemed to have held up well with the wear and tear of several photo shoots and modeling, however I did see some gems come undone here and there, most obviously on the bra strap for Cardamom (see close up photo); if I were the Spice team I would do some repairs ASAP.
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