Having seen many band launches and costumes thus far for the "Summer carnivals", both regionally and internationally, one thing is clear; many elements from popular Trinidad Carnival 2009 costumes have been borrowed, revamped and remixed, so much so that I am officially putting a moratorium on the following design elements for Trinidad Carnival 2010:
1. Tails - Despite this being a FABULOUS idea as an alternative to a backpack for frontliners this year, and one that I absolutely loved, I am sorry to say that I cannot see a tail fitting into any theme for Carnival 2010 unless it relates to some type of bird.
2. Feathered Hand Pieces - Unless the design is radically different from King Fisher (Island People 2008) and Caged Canary (TRIBE 2009), I am pretty much over the feathered hand pieces after seeing them rewound and remixed for Caribana!
3.Feather Collars - This has proven to be quite popular in many designs for Trinidad Carnival 2009 and it has proven to be popular among many other bands as well. The collar is cute but again, over it for 2010 and I would hope that there is not one feathered collar in sight along the Silk Road and Spice Route!
4. Pink and Orange - As stunning as these colours might be they have now become synonymous for me with Caged Canary, so much so that I had to do a double take when I saw this costume by Pure Passions of Antigua for their Carnival:Even the headpiece looks quite similar!! If I never see another pink and orange costume for a couple years I will be quite happy!
5. The monokini - Carnival 2009 was the unofficial year of the monokini,. From the moment the first monokini debuted at Spice's band launch the mononkiki popped up in every section, in every band this year. Not surprisingly the monokini has also migrated to other Carnivals and as a consequence of it's popularity I think for Carnival 2010 it is time to lay the monokini to rest.
Trinidad and Tobago has become the benchmark and inspiration for other Carnivals, hence the reason our designs are so flatteringly copied, thus it would be sad to think that some local designers are so stuck for ideas that they are even contemplating going BACKWARDS and not forward! I tell you I am going to rip apart ANY design that looks remotely close to anything I have seen done before; been there, done that, time to move on. With these Summer Carnivals boasting costumes that can rival some of the bands in Trinidad, we really need to set our costumes and designs apart and be the innovator, not the follower.
The competition is going to be extremely tight for 2010 as we masqueraders are asking for and demanding gorgeous costumes with originality; the costume is no longer complimentary! I was pretty pleased this year with the choices on offer, really beautiful costumes that pushed the envelope when it came to designs and I can only hope that we can look forward to even more gorgeous, creative and spectacular costumes for Trinidad Carnival 2010; take note section leaders and designers, The Sauce is setting the bar VERY high!
12 comments:
I personally still like the idea of the monokini for those of us ladies with the "mommy tummy" i gives us a sexier option to teh dull wholepiece costume. So I say keep the monokini!!
saucy u wouldn't believe i was going to do a post similar to this yesterday, but i ended up drafting it out of lazyness. lol. there is one u forgot, the rectangle rhinestones on the top edge of the bra, like in Brazilian macaw, and that all spice costume u have up from Monday and many more
I do not think that we can REALISTICALLY expect there to be NO similarities in costumes though.
But I DO expect that Trinidad will be the leader when it comes to costume design :)
i agree Saucy but i would like to point out that feathered handpieces were around long before king fisher and caged canary! Sonia Macks section Titania had hand pieces jus like that in 2004 or 2005 i cant remember the year was trying to find a pic on de net of it but cant seem to find one! it was a turquoise and Lime section! so i believe they were dragged back up by IP in 2008 and again by tribe this year! lol
hmmmm! hmmmmm well IP did it in 2008 and tribe in 2009 that was 2 years in ah row! im not a bias person as you know i jump from band to band! but it seems like once tribe or IP does something even if the repeating from other designs in prior years no one else can do a concept like that, do all roads end and the 2 IT bands??? just a question really cos it seems this is the case, i agree the monokini was a big element all bands this year but personally i welcome it for many years to come as a new base and medium for a costume to be designed on, just as the corset and also the sexy cut out one piece was a new element to design onto rather than the standard 2 piece bikini!
I think it is quite silly to attribute things like monokinis, colour combinations and feathered hand pieces to T&T carnival. The monokini did not leap on to the general fashion scene because it was used in T&T carnival, rather it has been fashionable to wear them in general (i.e. to the beach instead of a bikini) for at least 2 years now, even if you didnt have a belly to cover, so it is likely that it would become popular for carnival too. Similarly, because one costume uses a certain colour combination, every other costume that has it, is copying it? Did tribe copyright the rainbow too? And if this colour combination is used in 10 years time, is it still to be attributed to tribe? Rubbish.
Lets be real, T&T may have the most elaborate costumes and very creative designers, but it is merely one of the first carnivals of the season. Just because it is first in time, does not mean that every subsequent costume, with a similar feather is a copy (except of course for the actual re-sold costumes).
The corset is an excellent idea for the "mommy tummy" and fits more attractive than the monokini, just take a look at the ones done for Spice.
AC I am not saying NO similarities, but no similarities with what was done from 2009!
Bacchanal Mas I remember Titania and also Golden Cock Fight which also had arm pieces, but it took 3 years for that to be repeated I think we can give it a rest for another 3years! Also I don't think the arm pieces were an option for everyone in Titania, only the individuals.
TITANIA:
http://www.soniamack.com/2005carnival/images/titania_extra_large.jpg
Simone,I am not saying that monokinis, feathered hand pieces or colour combinations have originated solely in Trinidad. My issue is with it being done for 2009 and having it copied in subsequent Summer Carnivals for 2009 AND not having anything done like it for 2010.
More Titania:
http://www.soniamack.com/2005carnival/images/titaniagroupshot-main.jpg
http://www.soniamack.com/2005carnival/photos.htm
Ok so nobody can claim the rights to any color combo of use of material, but it is too much of a coincidence, that once an item, is introduced for T&T carnival it then re-appears in too many forms and fashions in different carnivals,for example while shopping in NYC for materials there were several people with pictures of costumes and items I DID and they were looking for the exact materials and trying to replicate, now there is nothing wrong with re-use, but the principle that is ignored completely, is the fact that theses people call themselves designers.
Well I agree with BM.
I wouldn't go on about it, but I think its more a matter of "inspiration". It's very hard to prove that bikini-mas designers are so original and not themselves just inspired.(case in point Sea Salt. Stunning - yes. Orginal - No!) It's like a fashion designer trying to claim the one shoulder dress or the tulip skirt just because they may have brought it to a particular mass audience.
BUT I have to agree with Saucy ... the bar for design AND quality must be set high. My 2 cents is, I think its about time head pieces look as complete from the back as they do from the front. FULL! I don't need the world to see the way it is glued together! And that i think is a very basic request. No need to be reserved for FL!
I also wanted to add that someone asked me, in response to this post, if I was being unrealistic in the request as "what is there left to do?"
My response was that so called designers have become lazy and really do reinforce the belief that bikini mas is the same thing every year in just a different colour and as a masquerader I do not want to play in a repeat costume every single year.
And even though the critics may look at the bikini mas and dismiss it for lack of creativity I can see and appreciate when a costume is innovative and different from the "same old, same old".
On that note I have to hand it to Island People for constantly pushing the envelope in their designs because even though I may not like all their costumes, each year they have brought something DIFFERENT!!
I would hope that instead of looking to recycle something from 2009 that the designers for 2010 earn that title and really create to entice us masqueraders. I have nothing against inspiration, it comes in many forms, however inspiration does not mean copying the exact thing! Change it up, make it new and fresh and exciting.. is that too much to ask ?
ok now we on the subject of reuse and recycling a band that has offended this for too many years and i realise their designs are now just pure laziness is HARTS how many more years are they going to replicate the same fanned out headresses, the same aztec styled costumes, the same mojave indian costumes and lastly the same egyptian costumes??? no matter what theme they have there is always the same themed costumes in the band but its not just that for me the actual core design of thier costumes is almost identicle in each section apart from change of bead style and colour you cannot tell the difference visually!
i have to admit i have taken "inspiration from trinidad costumes years past but this year i came up with my designs so way in advance so i didnt get any trinidad 2009 designs in me head! i have even designed my band for 2010 just to stear away from any form of inspiration!
i think 2010 gonna be an interesting year esp with all the new bands and i think its good that there is more competition coming out i hope that will also give the IT bands a wake up call and help drive down prices in trinidad.
me as a loyal visitor to trinidad i am finding it harder every year to fund a trip with everything gaurenteed to go up and the currency exchange nose diving, something has gotta give, it wont be the lack of creativity killing carnival it will be money and greed and its not just the mas bands that need to re asess thier prices its people renting out a room either in thier house or in a guest house for the same price they charging we could rent a penthouse suite in mayfair or a room in a 5 star hotel in central london and again im enquiring about prices for accom and oh yes be warned they have gone up again!
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