I had the pleasure of looking at ALL the bands parade on Flow On Demand last night (local Cable network), the first time I have been able to do so post Carnival. Flow has a brilliant idea right there because you pay for a 24hr rental, nominal fee of less than $5.00TT and you can pause, fast forward and rewind the video to your heart's content, I am not ashamed to tell you I looked at myself several times by rewinding and playing again! I was also able to spot several of my friends in other sections and bands as well.
There is a 1 hour compilation video that shows clips from all if not most of the bands and then they have divided the parade unedited with commentary into several parts. You do not need to purchase each part, just check the description and it tells you which bands are featured if you only want to see your band. The thing that stood out the most for me is that in every single band that crossed the Savannah stage, from medium to large to mini band all the masqueraders were pictured having a great time and enjoying second of it! Regardless of which band or costume they were in, and there were many different bands that were on show, everyone had a smile on their face and a look of pure enjoyment. It was great to see the diversity as people tend to think the big bands monopolize Carnival.
From looking at the Parade of Bands several things stood out to me and even though I swore I was not going to do a costume wishlist for Carnival 2012 I have to beg the costume designers to pay attention to the following:
* Cover the back side - The costume belt for female masqueraders has been shrinking in size over the years, remember when you had BEADS on your belt falling several inches on both the front and back? What is up with now skimping on the front of the belt with just a few embellishments and then having the back of the belt be basically a waist band? Add some beads, fabric, fringe.. anything that gives the back of the waistband some coverage instead of having women walking around with acreage of just their underwear on show!
* Nix the muted and dark colours - Carnival is colour and the costumes that stood out the most for me were the ones that were bright and had interesting colour combinations. Muted neutral tones, dark colours and all metallic did not pop at all. I would love to see really bright colours for 2012, no dark purple or dark red for instance. Canary yellow, fuchsia pink, lime green and electric blue.... make it stand out !
* Photoshoots in natural lighting - One thing I noticed with certain bands is that costumes I absolutely loved at the band launch and mas camp fell flat, dull and boring on the road. It is one thing to view a costume in the night under stage lights or at the mas camp with artificial lighting and another in the hot blazing sun. It would be awesome if a band could launch during the day so we can see the true colours of the costume but since this is not going to happen in the foreseeable future the next best thing would be to take photos of the costume in sunlight ( like D Krewe did) for the website for a truer representation.
* More corset designs please - One of my top overall costumes on the road this year is Pisces from the band YUMA. Main reason being is that everyone who wore the corset option for Frontline looked AWESOME! I did not see one masquerader in the Pisces costume that did not wear it well. I think more Frontline options should be offered with corsets that are designed as part of the costume (and not just an alternative to the standard bra) as Pisces is a great example of how a well decorated corset can be done.
* If you are doing Bling plastic please - I am afraid that "bling" is now here to stay, no longer will costumes in the pretty bands be devoid of crystals and rhinestones in the future, it has now become a standard. And while I am the first person to love me some Swarovski I absolutely hate the fact that these stones in metal casing can shred your tights to bits as well as injure you by leaving cuts ! Costume designers can either choose to keep the rhinestones away from belts or look for rhinestones in a plastic setting
* My personal wish - I have worn the mega headpiece, no headpiece, backpacks and a tail so I have been thinking about what costume I have not done as yet and I am dreaming of wings! It can be fabric or feathered (latter being my own preference of course) but I want some ridiculously fabulous wings for Carnival 2012! And I have also been considering shoulder pieces as an alternative to a full on backpack, which can restrict freedom on the road. Secretly hoping for a fabulous pink or red costume as well.
10 comments:
The skimpy waistpieces have been a pet peeve of mine for the past few years. I mean, yes there are calls in certain quarters for the more 'nekkid' look, but pretty soon, waistpieces will just be a belt. Sandra Hordatt has more or less done away with the traditional waist-piece. And while I admire her creativity, I do hope other section leaders and designers don't follow suit.
The lack of beads at the back of a waistpiece is all well and good if your bum is all nice and round and toned and cute. But the majority of women playing mas don't have those kind of bums. So what you end up with is a huge bum, with four scanty sequin strands or a tiny flap, struggling to cover the knickers.
Noice!
Saucy I love this post, I concur with everything you have said and I hope that the designers are paying attention and take your advice in a positive vein.
On my wishlist for Carnival 2012 is the mother of all costumes from BLISS. I would also love to see gorgeous embellished bras. Over the years we have been cheated with the scanty decorations on the bra. Sometimes you look at a costume and think if only the bra cups had more gems, the costume would have been perfect and magnificent. This would also discourage some people from attempting their own bra fixes which most times look tacky. Come on guys the bra and belt is really the costume canvas to showcase!
Also on my wishlist is that BLISS keeps the same numbers for 2012.
As a male masquerader I WISH that the fun bands put effort into male costumes....yes some of us want MORE than a pants and bib.....wings, capes, huge heapieces, standards, backpacks....MORE MORE MORE!
Although I've been leaning heavily towards turquoise and teal costumes lately, I'm actually open to any strong, saturated colours (black, white, brown and pastel colours need not apply). Fuchsia, violet, cobalt, yellow, orange, green, and yes, turquoise and teal are all on my wish list.
Although Harts is usually known for spectacular male costumes, I feel that they slipped a bit this year. In light of their theme for 2012, I'm hoping to see lots of elaborate headpieces, swords, spears, hammers, capes, wings. Just drooling at the thought!
And perhaps the most important thing on my wish list is a band of moderate size. This year, Harts weighed in at around 3200 masqueraders, which I felt was ideal. There was enough free space to move around, but enough people to keep the band from looking skimpy.
I totally agree with Saucy on the belts issue. The mas belts are now virtually pants belts. That needs to stop. I also agree with seeing more corsets, and yes Pisces Fl was a shining example of corsets done right.
As for the wings, I think of Spice's Sha Jahaan Fl from this yr. Those pink and white wings were dreamy.
My wish list is for producers to start using better glue. Hot glue does not work for ALL materials.
I love the idea of a decorated corset, not as an 'extra' but as the top. Definitely a better and wider belt, I loved the size of the 'The Lady of the Lake' belt, it was ideal....and as for colours I'm leaning towards copper like in Izumi Clan, major colour saturation, not fond of pastels...and yeah really hoping that costumes are photographed in sunlight to assist in costume selection.
WOW, I thought I was the only one noticing the waistbands or lack thereof.As far as the glue goes, the velcro from my waist band became totally unglued before I crossed the Savannah stage and that was the first stage, hot glue is not working.As far as the headpieces go, usually I don't ever come home with mine, this year it survived(by the grace of God).Lunch on Carnival Tuesday boggles my mind, speaking for myself, I really don't need a three course meal to devour with fairly dirty hands sitting in a dusty park. There are so many local delicacies and dishes, carb loading yes, that's what you need on the road. Hot roti with a vege option,peleau, even doubles, but do we really need sauteed garlic potatoes and what not?
If I do not hear beads swishing it doesn't feel like carnival to me...and if you only knew how seeing bikini bottoms drives my blood pressure up oh gorm! I played in mystery of kiylan last yr and when I saw how much bumcee was showing I was not happy. It wouldn't hurt to take some of the 3000+ tht ppl spending on a nicely decorated ...."bigger than a shoe lace" belt....Steups.
Pisces corset...talk about envy...even tho I was in tht section, I did backline plus collar...damn me lol. My wish for 2012 is something bright and gorgeous, with shoulder pieces or a great headpiece(either or...I do not want too much stuff keeping me back ) ,save the bling for my makeup and headpiece, and if I can't get a lil more substance in the belt area....tell urselves I'm gonna find some beads n stick em somewhere lol
Oops...loulan...damn auto correct
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