Curator at the costume institute in New York Andrew Bolton Talks about the first time he saw this piece by the late Alexander McQueen in 1998.
Showing posts with label Costume. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Costume. Show all posts
Friday, December 13, 2013
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Sights of Notting Hill Carnival 2012
So I've been looking at photos of this years Notting Hill Carnival on the 26th and 27th of August and the fantastic time had by all, have a look at them and hit the links to see a lot more, enjoy!
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
K2K's GALA EVENT
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| Animated sequence of a race horse galloping. Photos taken by Eadweard Muybridge (died 1904), first published in 1887 at Philadelphia (Animal Locomotion). (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The K2K launch published as an event at Queens hall on 9:08:12, and it
was indeed my first band launch in Trinidad in over a decade I must admit while
I was happy it was a K2K launch the idea
of dressing elegantly or ‘dressing up’ for a launch did bother me a bit, but in
the theme of things this was not just a band launch / fashion show it was an ‘event’
so I resisted the rebel in me and went with the flow.
At Queens Hall, I felt this was indeed the theme playing out
in real life, or life imitating art imitating life...but just not mine. Sitting watching masqueraders and potential
masqueraders walk in mixed with public figures I noticed a complete absence of
music of any sought; I constantly had to remind myself this is not a band launch...it’s
an event.
The event started (fashionably?) late as they do and while I
walked past the seats reserved for the special people and found a seat I was
happy with I could not help but noticed that the audience was made up of about
every possible age group, leaning towards the mature, (maybe $ 450.dollar price
of the tickets had its part to play with the turnout...) and then the show started.
Billed as a Gala event
the show had a dramatic enough start but in my opinion failed to create the drama excitement
or general atmosphere a horse race or even a horse race themed show might
create.
I somehow looked forward to a show that mixed the best of a fashion
show with the best of dramatic band launch with story line plot a protagonist
etc, instead the audience was treated to a fashion show...(and if I had to be
honestly critical while all of queens hall was used in the production, It
seemed no better in execution than some I seen in my school days),while I did enjoy the sound track during the presentation I did take note that there was no soca either... not even the
names of the sections were announced as the costumes came on stage, so the
audience had to guess through observation who was horse rider and spectator...depending
on who held a crop or wore or posed with a horse head or helmet.
By now we all know the theme of the band and its fractions
made up of horse, rider/jockey, and spectator. But this well publicised show
did not do much if anything for the theme, while I went to the show with an
open mind ready to accept something different I feel an opportunity to
captivate and fascinate future masqueraders totally, may have been missed by
the show’s lack of storyline or basic information in the names of the sections
being announced when the costumes were on stage.
The Mas
From the stylised horse headpieces with golden manes, to
riding crops, with gloves and riding boots and goggles all indicate the
equestrian theme of the mas, multi layered rhinestone covered dresses, lace
covered umbrellas, and top hats reflect the pomp and glamour in the horse races
of high society of another period.
This band seems to emulate the bourgeois from launch to costume
design; this gave me the impression that this ‘human race ‘ was not a comment
on the pressures and misdirected material values of modern society, this was a
celebration of these values the race was not the high pressured battle of ambition, goals,
and hurdles and but a celebration of high society where even the jockey’s could
be spectators, or kings they seemed so ...established, and the horses (our
ambitions) have all been achieved...
AA_rs.jpg)
With this presentation K2K’s mas dances even more than the waters,
on the border between high fashion and high mas, leaving some potential
masqueraders questioning the road worthiness
of the costumes in terms of comfort and practicality, masqueraders who played
with k2k last carnival however, (the ones I spoke too) seemed more positive
about the mas and the sections they were interested in or definitely going to
play in. Once again the costumes display in construction, and tailoring craftsmanship
way above that of the regular mas band,
a quality that will no doubt see K2K claiming more awards on the road come
2013.
The band also echo’s silhouettes from last year’s mas in
both the male and female designs, half jackets, caged apparel, skirting for the
men , this may be a trademark look of the Norman twins, or a reoccurring theme that might join the trilogy
together, but when the fashion world is
your pool of inspiration such reoccurring styles can be bypassed.
AA3.jpg)
All said and done, in their launch, K2K have provided
another visual spectacular in the ‘Human Race’, the Norman twins in their second outing have in my opinion strengthened their grip on
the leaders of the new school title, using more vision imagination and
originality than any of their contemporaries, they have succeeded in getting
other designers and band leaders scampering around their search engines looking
for themes and designs in an attempt to add some depth to their presentations
and legitimise their presence by contemplating competing for a title.
A title that is already within the grip of the twins once
all goes as planned for them.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
A WICKED PIECE OF WORK!
I came across this awesome head piece while on one of my internet surfabouts. I dont know who's work it is yet, but I think it's STUNNING! You can find some more stunning photos at Dangerously Dolly.
If any of you know who's work it is drop me a line....
If any of you know who's work it is drop me a line....
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Carnival Monday 2012 with K2K “The Waters – Seas of Consciousness”
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Cheewah reveals 'KING SAILOR'
It's not every day that a mas band or its band leader and designer lets the public see the designs of its King or Queen of the band. Some bands and their designers keep such designs top secret, a tradition that goes back beyond carnival competitions. Usually we (the general public) don't see the mas until its on the Savannah Stage during competition or on the road on carnival Monday and Tuesday.
This is not the case with Strictly Alternative Mas: (S.A. M.)
Last Thursday designer Darren X Cheewah made public the design on the King of their Trinidad Carnival 2012 presentation 'X' on their face book group page. The 'King Sailor' design reveals a massive skull with the iconic sailor cap and a massive red cape with numerous flags with various designs on them. While the design does not give details on the materials being used or the dimensions of the mas, a lot of movement and 'play' can be expected from this King of X.
This design follows the release of individuals and section leaders that were posted 3 months ago on fb and those of the sections that were released after the band launch. I wonder what the Queen of X will look like...
This is not the case with Strictly Alternative Mas: (S.A. M.)
Last Thursday designer Darren X Cheewah made public the design on the King of their Trinidad Carnival 2012 presentation 'X' on their face book group page. The 'King Sailor' design reveals a massive skull with the iconic sailor cap and a massive red cape with numerous flags with various designs on them. While the design does not give details on the materials being used or the dimensions of the mas, a lot of movement and 'play' can be expected from this King of X.
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| 'King Sailor' designed by Darren Cheewah. |
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Salt Cure for the mas "2012- The Living Prophecies"
The band 'Salt Cure for the mas' have put together a dramatic video presentation of their sections of carnival 2012 The living Prophecies. take a look. Take a look at their fb page for more info .
"The video depicts the inspiration for SALT's Carnival Costume Presentation entitled "2012- The Living Prophecies". It is based on the predictions of the ancient Mayan, Hopi Indian, Chinese (I Ching), and Hindu civilizations, which predicted the end of the Forth Great Year Cycle of Humanity on December 21, 2012 . They believed that the world goes through periods of destruction and renewal every several thousand years. The overall theme of these prophesies centers around the great purification of the world. It is predicted that horrific events, natural disasters and destruction will accompany this New Age, which is called the Age of Aquarius. The costumes are designed by well-known Trinidad artist and costume designer, Keith McLean."
Quote from you tube.
"The video depicts the inspiration for SALT's Carnival Costume Presentation entitled "2012- The Living Prophecies". It is based on the predictions of the ancient Mayan, Hopi Indian, Chinese (I Ching), and Hindu civilizations, which predicted the end of the Forth Great Year Cycle of Humanity on December 21, 2012 . They believed that the world goes through periods of destruction and renewal every several thousand years. The overall theme of these prophesies centers around the great purification of the world. It is predicted that horrific events, natural disasters and destruction will accompany this New Age, which is called the Age of Aquarius. The costumes are designed by well-known Trinidad artist and costume designer, Keith McLean."
Quote from you tube.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Bacchanalia Launch: Alter Ego Through the looking glass: for N.H.C 2011
So Bacchanalia has drawn first blood for Notting hill carnival 2011 with their band launch at the Imbibe bar Saturday night.It’s been a long time in London since I’ve been to a band launch I have enjoyed, if I had to be precise the last band launch I enjoyed was south connections about 4 years ago (and that’s because I found a nice woman to wine on...the mas was cool too).
So on Saturday, I (or we depending on who reading this lol) decided to attend the band launch of Bacchanalia to witness the revealing of their Notting hill Carnival 2011 presentations of ‘Wotless’ for Sunday and ‘Alter Ego Through the looking glass’ for bank holiday Monday.
The crowd was a good one; convert this crowd and the energy it possessed into a strong 4 section band and the folks at Bacchanalia will surely be a force to reckon with in the Notting Hill Carnival.Bacchanalia’s theme of choice, ‘Alter ego-Through the looking glass’ is a simple but effective one, in short the alter ego is that spirit of carnival that takes over when you hit the road on carnival day in costume, and become someone your mother does not know, and while at the launch I could not guess what costume was Bold and Beautiful or Mirror Mirror by looking at them, under the lights of the venue the costumes, (or was it the ladies in them?) did have me Spellbound for the 20 minutes it took to present them. Good show Bacchanalia, I enjoyed it!
However, looking critically at the presentation Alter ego looks like some of the new bands in Trinidad , i.e. a head piece band, it seems that now the emphasis is on the larger (almost individual sized ) headpiece that with luck , will draw away from the fact that design wise the mas says absolutely nothing.
As a mas man I saw Alter Ego as one of those dream themes that you could take in one thousand directions and produce some sexy and meaningful portrayals with. Unfortunately it seems that those that came up with the vision did not (or could not?) connect this inspiring concept to the imaginations of the design team of Bacchanalia...
Maybe the designer/s could not find a medium or motif to assist in the depiction of the theme, or it might be that they simply did not do the research, but if team Rajpaulsing with 18 years experience in carnival are truly dedicated to not only keeping the carnival culture in the UK alive but also improving it, they have to understand there is so much more to mas than sparkly things and pretty plumes.
Much much more.
As a medium band looking for a minimum of 160 and a maximum of 200 masqueraders, Bacchanalia may be shooting themselves in the foot with section prices of £225.00 for their premium female sections and £195.00 for the males. Boldly challenging their punters not only to release their courageous Alter-ego’s but also release their common sense and part with so much money for sparkly bikinis in this present unstable economic climate.
Overall the Bacchanalia vibe is a good vibe, the energy at the launch was positive and the presentation professional. As they now cross the bridge from T-shirt, to full costumed band I can only hope that they can in time evolve from the generic fun band approach to mas without meaning, to one that visually and philosophically demands the world not to simply look at us, but sit up and pay serious attention, for this too is a fundamental aspect of what mas is about.
Please note: Massassination must say a special thank you to band leaders Kelly and Andrew Rajpaulsingh for inviting Massassination to their band launch (a first) and the warm welcome on introduction. This was done with the full knowledge of the blogs nature and in my opinion showed a supreme confidence, in their product, a desire to progress, and a mature understanding that the opinions expressed in my posts are constructive (most times) in intention, and done with an undying love for the art form that is MAS.
here's a 5 min clip...
a video clip of the bacchanalia band launch. held on the 16/04/11
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