I remember the stories I would hear of bootleg costumes being pirated by friends who had that lone friend that did not secure a costume for whatever reason. Rumour has it that these industrious ladies, and/or gents, would make a trip to Samaroos after collecting their costume and try their best to whip up as close a likeness of the "real" costume for the plagued friend. Some persons in the business of making mas for certain bands were also alleged to be selling costumes on the side, hence the reason that some bands only give mas makers pieces of the costume to make and not the entire thing, spreading the job out so no one person can create an entire costume.
With costumes now coming in from China, and bands having materials designed specifically for each section it is a bit harder to replicate some of the he costumes on show. However this Water Nymph pictured below looks curiously different from all the other Nymphs in that section.
Now I am not casting aspersions of bootlegging, but really why is this costume so conspicuously different, yet can easily blend in to the casual observer? Is this the Water Nymph "secret section" perhaps? If anyone knows please enlighten me as to why THIS costume is not like any other!
With costumes now coming in from China, and bands having materials designed specifically for each section it is a bit harder to replicate some of the he costumes on show. However this Water Nymph pictured below looks curiously different from all the other Nymphs in that section.
Now I am not casting aspersions of bootlegging, but really why is this costume so conspicuously different, yet can easily blend in to the casual observer? Is this the Water Nymph "secret section" perhaps? If anyone knows please enlighten me as to why THIS costume is not like any other!
Water Nypmh?
Masqueraders in Water Nymph
Carnival Tuesday photographs can now be seen at www.triniscene.com!
PHOTOS: www.triniscene.com
EDITED TO ADD THE FOLLOWING EMAIL IN RESPONSE TO THE BOOTLEG QUESTION:
Hi Saucy,OK, so there you have it, the question has been answered! I only saw this one photograph so I had no knowledge that there were several others in this version of the costume. Apologies to the young lady for the comments that were directed in ignorance!
In response to your article on the bootleg costumes, i think it right to explain.
First of all, my name is Richard, and i am one half of the design team at Richard Anthony Productions & Concepts, an event and costuming company based here in trinidad .
We have been responsible for designing and creating for both Tribe and Island People Mas for the past four years.
Our strongest designs have been geared towards the male costumes for IP Mas and their frontline females and female headpieces.
On the matter of the Water Nymph costumes, THEY WERE NOT BOOTLEG.......LOL!
Allow me to Explain, We- My family,Friends And I-decided to play mas with Tribe this year. We originally liked the water nymph and we are close to Gail Cabral, so we called and asked her to do a frontline version of the costume, if you noticed our wings, both the male, female and our huge individual did not bend or break or crumple, and they were different, although our costumes did look similar that was to avoid pissing anyone off by going too elaborate, you know the usual as in the "Green Water Spirit" section, in hopes of not causing any trouble for the Tribe team, So please do not label us as bootleg if you look closely you can see the ID bands on my cousin's wrists and all of the other 17 ladies/gents in our group. And the big individual that was featured in one of the pics on your site, _OCANUS, The Water Nymph_ placed first in the male category.
I do applaud your concern and feel free to investigate with the bands mentioned about us, you did not meet us at IP Mas viewing because we were out of the country at that time, and keep doing the great work, i love your blog , we're on everyday
--
Richard
