One of my blog readers emailed me to vent a little; she had seen a few masqueraders from Imp in her section on Carnival Tuesday, including the designer herself and Ms. Tempo, and thought that their costumes looked different from what was advertised on TRIBE's website. After seeing other photographs of the two young ladies in costume on many photosites as well as comparing their costumes to what was offered to the "regular" masqueraders, the young lady who wrote me was quite peeved as it confirmed that the costumes were indeed different.
regular imps
regular frontline imps
diva imps
In her words this is what she said:
"Did you see the difference – Ms. Rovedas has altered her headpiece and made it diva fantastic for herself and her friends and left the other unappealing options to us minions. Now if what she is wearing was advertised and sold, I would have played in Imp. When I went to the mas camp to view the costumes I thought the colours were amazing but I hated the headpiece.
So are you telling me in order to have a costume go from so-so to super fabulous I have to have my own section in a band? Again damn it."
Even though Imp was not one of the costumes I gave a second thought after the launch, I do think that the colours looked beautiful on the road. I have absolutely no problem with the designer or even section leader making a special individual or frontline costume for themselves, in fact that is the freedom and perk that comes with the territory, and I am not here to "pong" Ms. Rovedas unfairly. However, I tend to side with the blogger that wrote me( most upset) if you are selling a costume that by no one's estimation is priced cheaply (Imp was one of the more expensive costumes) then why not offer a costume which is just as fabulous for all your masqueraders and not just to a select few?
One of the issues I personally had with Imp was that the costume clearly was not worth the price (are any of them worth it really?). I mean honestly the Imp costume could not have cost more that $300.00 to make and I am being generous! So, a few extra feathers on the headpiece to take it from "so-so to to super fabulous" was not going to break the bank. This special headpiece of Imp looks even better than the Frontline Imp in my estimation. Maybe the designer of the section could have possibly reworked the Imp headpiece, as was done with Majorette and offer a scaled down version of what she eventually wore to all masqueraders. Then there would be no disgruntled feelings among some people upon seeing how fabulous THAT particular Imp looked on Carnival Tuesday.
To the other designer's credit (and not only in TRIBE) the ones I identified were wearing the same costume as their masqueraders; Gail Cabral, Monique and Lana Nobrega were all dressed in "regular" costumes like everyone else; in Island People I saw Sandra Hordatt looking very nice in the Goddess Frontline costume, cage bra and all. It just shows some form of solidarity and faith in your costume that it is good enough, as is, for not only your masqueraders to wear but also you and your friends!
One of the issues I personally had with Imp was that the costume clearly was not worth the price (are any of them worth it really?). I mean honestly the Imp costume could not have cost more that $300.00 to make and I am being generous! So, a few extra feathers on the headpiece to take it from "so-so to to super fabulous" was not going to break the bank. This special headpiece of Imp looks even better than the Frontline Imp in my estimation. Maybe the designer of the section could have possibly reworked the Imp headpiece, as was done with Majorette and offer a scaled down version of what she eventually wore to all masqueraders. Then there would be no disgruntled feelings among some people upon seeing how fabulous THAT particular Imp looked on Carnival Tuesday.
To the other designer's credit (and not only in TRIBE) the ones I identified were wearing the same costume as their masqueraders; Gail Cabral, Monique and Lana Nobrega were all dressed in "regular" costumes like everyone else; in Island People I saw Sandra Hordatt looking very nice in the Goddess Frontline costume, cage bra and all. It just shows some form of solidarity and faith in your costume that it is good enough, as is, for not only your masqueraders to wear but also you and your friends!
All photos: www.carnivalscene.com
