Blazing Black Joy & Fantastically Feathered…
St. Lucia Carnival is shortly turning into one of essentially the most anticipated occasions of the summer season season, and if you’re fortunate enough to attend and gaze upon the tradition, festivities, and feathered beauties in attendance like Chloe Bailey, it’s simple to see why.
Masqueraders from Xuvo’s award-winning Angele part line up to cross the stage for judging/ Source: Alexander Mayo / @alxmyo
Let’s begin with the placement: The island’s panorama boasts hills and mountains at every angle. Look wherever, and you’ve acquired a stunning view. St. Lucia’s native music, Dennery Segment, which powers its festivities, is a pulsating combine of a number of Caribbean genres — like soca, zouk, and dancehall — born from the island’s Dennery district. Then there’s Bouyon, an equally infectious, upbeat, and raunchy style from close by Dominica, which finds its means into every DJ set during the carnival season.
Another draw? The costumes. St. Lucia’s mas bands (or masquerade bands, which take part in the massive parade every carnival) are beautiful, created by some of the Caribbean’s most proficient and sought-after designers. For many masqueraders, the look of the costume is at the highest of the checklist when it comes to selecting a mas band to play with, and the island doesn’t disappoint in that class.
A masquerader sporting an elaborate, wheeled costume crosses paths with a celebration band on the highway. These costumes are a staple of Caribbean carnival and mirror the area’s storied custom/ Source: Alexander Mayo / @alxmyo
Carnival in St. Lucia is a month-long affair with native competitions just like the National Carnival Queen Pageant, Calypso Monarch, and more. Sprinkled all through are a number of events, referred to as fetes, which intensify main up to the week of the massive Parade of the Bands on Carnival Monday and Tuesday, happening in Castries, the island’s capital. That’s when you see the hallmark glowing, beaded, feathered costumes that Caribbean carnivals are identified for. It’s a main manufacturing that takes nearly a 12 months to put collectively, as each carnival band meticulously establishes an general theme, faucets designers, and orders supplies to produce each made-to-order piece for masqueraders (parade members) to choose up once they arrive on he island, days before taking to the streets.
A masquerader with Just 4 Fun Carnival repping Grenada dances behind the music truck on the highway, the image of black pleasure and freedom/ Source: Alexander Mayo / @alxmyo
“The biggest challenge is ensuring I have all the literal hands on deck needed to transform the pieces of material we receive to the completed designs masqueraders are expecting,” says David Dewer, an worldwide carnival costume designer from Trinidad and Tobago. He’s the thoughts behind Xuvo mas band’s Saia part. “For the industry as a whole, it’s no secret that the material and the bulk of production is outsourced to China, so that makes you susceptible to challenges beyond our control — weather, pricing, shipping delays. We try to place final orders with enough time to allow for production, shipping, delays, clearing, quality checks, and distribution.”
You only put on your costume for a single day, but packages to have the opportunity to play mas — aka be in the parade — don’t come low-cost. They can begin wherever from $600 and go up to $2,000, relying on how extravagant your look is and if there are any particular add-ons your bundle contains.
Source: Angele masqueraders confer for a second on the highway/ Alexander Mayo / @alxmyo
“People often don’t realize just how detailed the process is. We’re talking gem counts, feather counts, size vetting, precise placements, every costume element is carefully considered,” Maier Sifflet, Xuvo’s inventive director, explains. “And beyond the glam, there’s deep cultural research involved in shaping our portrayals. We’re telling stories that honor Saint Lucia’s spirit.”
And costume designers, who are sometimes charged with creating sections on a number of islands, are tasked with having a eager awareness of the tradition on each island. Contrary to fashionable perception, the Caribbean islands are usually not a monolith, and each has a distinctive tradition that must be honored and celebrated accordingly.
Source: A masquerader takes a fast relaxation from strolling during St. Lucia’s annual Parade of the Bands/ Alexander Mayo / @alxmyo
That truth doesn’t have to stifle the designers’ creativity, though. “Each island has its own cultural norms, style, and popular color palettes,” Kwasi McDonald explains. He’s the thoughts behind Xuvo’s Angele part, which tied for first place at St. Lucia Carnival for Section of the Year. “However, sometimes I like to risk going against the norms and see if it takes hold. Trust me, the growth of the ‘skimpy’ bikini didn’t happen overnight.”
Part of pushing the norms contains conserving issues contemporary, not only in phrases of the colour palette, but also when it comes to design techniques.
“There is so much new technology and elements out there that I always try to include in my designs,” McDonald explains. “Using Lazer cutting, 3D bras, [and sourcing] fabrics apart from Spandex. As a designer, the world is my oyster, and my clients trust in me to always bring fresh ideas to the industry.”
When it all comes collectively, the result’s nothing short of magical. The beads, the glitter, the feathers, the bamcee (booties). All of it culminates in a stunning show celebrating tradition, artwork, freedom, and black pleasure. For Sifflet, the method of placing collectively a carnival band is all about “freedom [and] pure energy on the road. It’s the climax, the release, the reminder of why we do this.” It makes the months of work more than price it.
A Xuvo masquerader adorned her ‘fro with rhinestones for the second day of the Parade of the Bands, where revelers wear more toned-down fare in comparison to the full regalia of St. Lucia’s Carnival Monday/ Source: Alexander Mayo / @alxmyo
And that’s very true when you get your flowers for the work you’ve performed. Xuvo had a banner carnival 12 months, taking home second place for Band of the Year, Spirit of Carnival, Best Designed Band, successful first place for Mas on the Move, and tying for first place for Section of the Year with their Angele part and Best Portrayal of the Theme. If there was ever a testomony to arduous work paying of, we’d say this is it.
A better look at a piece of the costume from Xuvo’s award-winning Angele part. This bedazzled masks was at the highest of a long workers carried by masqueraders in that part/ Source: Alexander Mayo / @alxmyo
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