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!
