YUMA Presents ZODEACK
Carnival Jumbie beat me to the punch with her very comprehensive review on
YUMA's costumes, which you can read on her blog,
link here. I agree with many of her sentiments in regards to the two teasers we got to view last evening, so my review will not dwell on the same points that
Carnival Jumbie made in regards to
Aquarius and
The Oracle. I love
The Oracle, it is purple, my favorite colour and that back pack is to die for even though I know there is an even bigger option still to be revealed!
It was nice that YUMA provided us with a preview of both Frontline and Backline (regular) costume options as Media Launches tend to show only one costume option, most often the Frontline which is the WOW costume. As is the trend with designs by Richard and Anthony productions, which seem to be getting grander over the years, their hallmark is stunning headpieces and lots of jeweled pieces, I am retiring the word "bling" for this Carnival season, personally.
To be sure you will see Richard and Anthony's stamp on these costumes and may even recognize design elements from past creations,since they have been working on many of the costume headpieces, back packs, collars, foot pieces and wrist embellishments that you see make up a whole of other costumes in other bands. For instance Mystery of Loulan, Threads of Morocco and Osage had headpieces designed by Richard and Anthony; bet you did not know that!
The good is that you can be sure of a certain standard from this design team but the caveat is that the costumes always look a tad bit familiar. I can see a bit of Greece in Oracle's backline and the headpiece for Aquarius bears a passing resemblance to Caspian Sea, Spangled Cotinga and Caged Canary for me . However I do think that they have added some distinct pieces to this seasons designs that I am loving, The bra/corset/waist cincher effect of
The Oracle is lovely, I would definitely wear this costume and the fabric on the back pack, love love love! The controversial netted dress (yes even I can find it
selling online) I think was very skillfully used on Aquarius's backline, I liked the draping on the bra and waist band, and the frontline is certainly in your face sexy but I do have the same reservations regarding the dress as Carnival Jumbie does. Lovely to look at, concerned about fit and practicality on the road, if you are wearing that dress you are certainly limited to the level of "jamishness" you can partake in !
For me I cannot wait to see the rest of the ZODEACK, as we can look forward to other designs from the entire YUMA Design Team which comprises of Crystal Marcus, Gina Maingot and Lee Aleong (in addition to Richard Dookhdeen and Anthony Hall), I am interested in just how literal an interpretation (or not) of the horoscopes we will see in translation to costumes. Honestly, I was not expecting such a contemporary version of the Zodiac from these preview costumes but I was told that each star sign will have a different element upon which the costume is designed. It could be a translation of colour, gemstone, animal or association, like with Aquarius the aqua blue colour ties in the theme and The Oracle uses the peacock feathers as "eyes". I get it, even if I have to wrap my mind around it a little longer to "see" the Star Sign. Scorpio better be red hot!
And, I will end my review by saying it was VERY interesting that
Spice chose to release that photograph of the
Jubliee Diamond Signature Line, which also used the very same
rhinestone netting, 24 hrs before
YUMA's big reveal. I find the coincidence even more curious when both bands are using the same supplier , like I said before.. carry on!
Let the battle of the BLING (ughhhhh), make that the fabulous jeweled costumes begin!
