The more glitz the better for mas costumes.
Shelly Watkins started making costumes for Caribana last year, and this year is in charge of her own section, Paparazzi, at the Tribal Knights Mas Camp in Scarborough. (July 23, 2010)
Staff photo/MARY GAUDET
It takes a lot of feathers, sequins, crystals and hot glue to make the outfits that will be adoring many a woman and man during this week's Caribana festivities.
In the week before the annual parade takes place a dedicated group of volunteers worked diligently in a Scarborough warehouse on their creations trying to finish all the tops and corsets and head pieces in time for the main event.
Noel Audain handled the glue gun like a pro, masterfully placing the blue and yellow feathers on the head piece in his Arabian Nights section.
Audain has been working on mas costumes since he was 14 years old. He started in his native Trinidad and continued the art form when he came to Canada in 1968. He used to have his own band, but now is an integral part of the Tribal Knights mas band lead by Dexter Seusahai, which bases its operations in the McNicoll Avenue and Markham Road area.
The theme for the band this year is Hollywood: Glitz and Glamour with the different sections representing Moulin Rouge, Paparazzi and Arabian Nights, to name a few.
It takes months of sewing crystals and stones to bra tops, affixing feathers to head pieces and gluing sequins to corsets to prepare the costumes that will adorn the 1,700 people who will participate in the Tribal Knights mas band.
They will work until the last minute to make sure everything is perfect and to make sure their band looks better than the rest.
"That's the excitement - of making the costumes at the last minute," Audain said.
It will all be worth it come Saturday, July 31, and the parade.
"I enjoy looking at it. That's the good part, of when you see them together in the parade," he said.
"That's the joy of doing it - seeing it in the parade."
The volunteers working diligently gluing crystals and feathers point out it Tribal Knights was the first band to sell out after the May launch when all the prototype costumes were revealed and modeled for people to choose from. Those who bought a costume in Shelly Watkins Paparazzi section will be wearing black with a dash of crystal and pink feathers thrown in. Last Friday afternoon she was busy finishing three outfits for pick up; her own costume has taken a back seat for the past three months.
"It's all about customer service this year so I'm making sure they get what they want when they want it," she said. "So mine comes last."
The sashes she was working on are for the men's outfits, but the mas bands are dominated by women dressing up and having fun.
"Women enjoy it more. They take it more seriously. They come out more in droves," Watkins said. "We all like to dress up and enjoy ourselves for the day."
The outfits will all be picked up in time to be worn in the parade on Saturday when 11 bands will compete for the title of best band
The prestigious King and Queen competition takes place Thursday, July 29, , but those costumes aren't worked on in the open. The design and creation are kept top secret so the other bands can't get any ideas.
n Caribana festivities are now ongoing in Toronto, but highlights include the Kings and Queens of the Bands competition at Lamport Stadium Thursday, July 29 and the parade itself on Saturday, July 31.
The Kings and Queens event goes from 7 p.m. to midnight and sees the bands in this year's parade competing for top honours and the crown of King or Queen of this year's Caribana festival.
On Saturday, the parade begins at Exhibition Place and then travels along Lake Shore Boulevard. The parade runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
For more information on Caribana, visit www.www.caribanafestival.com