The idea of a "free" band launch, in the form of a pub crawl was a novel one that Pulse 8 pulled off well on Friday night, complete with big truck and costumed models as they bar hopped along Ariapita Avenue. Prior to this the Media were shown the costumes at the band's new mas camp on the corner of Luis Street and Ariapita Avenue, in spite of cramped viewing area I was able to get an upclose look at all the costumes and I have to say that Pulse 8 knows their market well and these costumes cater to them. Nothing spectacularly "out of the box", for the most part cute wearable costumes with that Pulse 8 hallmark.
Rosella Risque - Or should I say Brazilian Macaw version 2.0. This costume was designed by Sandra Hordatt with Richard Dookhdeen and they have basically repeated one of their best collaborative designs with this one. Maybe if they had used another colour combination it would not scream Brazilian Macaw (TRIBE 2009) every time you look at it, however in spite of that it is one of the strongest costumes in the band.
Wild Ting - I have to admit I think this costume has a lot going on and can be seen as a bit busy, I personally would not have used the seed beaded fringe on the bra. However I love that the waist band looks like something teenager Pebbles would wear on the Flinstones and it is actually quite sexy without using the typical beads.
Bois Bande - The pants are the favourite part of this costume for me because I think it would appeal to the ladies who may want more coverage but still get the tease of a hint of leg so it is not that covered up. The bra is under decorated, but it is a nice shade of yellow.
Naughty Nymph, Misty Morning and Bamboo Patch - I put these three costumes together because I have the same opinion on them all, simple and cute costume just about sums it up. You know the costumes that look nice, but are nothing extra special. I do like the shape of the bra on Naughty Nymph as it looks like a short corset and the shade of blue for Misty Morning is quite nice, though I am not too sure if I like the metal circles falling from the belt. Of the three my favourite is Bamboo Patch because I like the lime green and bronze colour combination (the model sold this costume).
Poison Berry - There is just something about the shape and design of the gold part of the headpiece that does not appeal to me, otherwise another safe, albeit generic, costume that adds a skirt which takes it up a notch to interesting.
Flambeaux - This costume alternates between my least favourite of all the costumes and then I look at it again and it is not so bad. I do not like the petals used to decorate the belt and bra, I think that is the one element that I dislike the most. I like the fabric tendrils and even the backpack as this is one of the few frontline costumes in the band. And while the colour combination is nice and has worked in other sections before with all that is going on with the costume it borders on a tad but cosquel for me. As is the case with some of the other costumes however, I think just a bit more could have been done to the costume to make it look spectacular. As much as I like the fabric tendrils they look rather skimpy and scant, more could have been used on the backpack for instance and the backpack surely needs more feathers. Minor details that for me might have solidly made this one a "like" for me.
As for the men, on the night we were shown males in Bois Bande and Misty Morning and one male who was there expressed it very succinctly when he said it looks as if they design the female costumes then decide that they should stick a male in there; generic and boring as has been the case with most of the male costumes this far. Again I have to say the best male costume of the lot is Rosella Risque , followed by Wild Ting (shown in the brochure). Rosella Risque male costume and more photos can be seen at their fan page Rosella Risque as they appear to be a private section with separate marketing (we got independent flyers at the Media launch for that section).
