This week I wanted to share with you a few things that have come under my radar that I found quite interesting and important to the way fashion and the arts are shaped in the Caribbean.
Timeka Marshall
If you have read my blog on www.online-runway.com on Timeka Marshall you would know by now I’m not too fond of her style. I know many singers borrow off each other’s style but most use it to recreate a totally new image. I have always felt that Timeka struggled when it came to recreating. It was almost as if the trends were passing through her instead of her putting her stamp on them. I could never really see who Timeka was. Well that was until I came across these pictures for That Look Boutique. She now sports a short curly do and a super toned-down facial make-up aesthetic. I find that the hair cut really pops her face and allows her appearance to come off stronger. It is also really good to see this in a time when Brazilian weave dominates. She is going against the status quo. You go, Timeka! Comparing her now with back then, it would appear that she regained style consciousness and took control of her image. Let’s hope she doesn’t ever lose it.
Meanwhile, it’s good to see That Look continuously looking for ways to challenge the typical fashion ad culture we have in Guyana that tends to encourage a certain standard of beauty. It is also good that they have recognized the need to and see the benefit of incorporating local celebrities and persons with a significant following into their marketing.
Moving along, whenever Carnival season in Trinidad and Tobago comes around, I always place some of my attention on it over social media and on the reviews that follow. This year I was forced to pay more attention because of two most startling comebacks.
Peter Minshall
Veteran Trinidadian Carnival artist also known as Mas Man, Peter Minshall, returned to the Carnival scene after almost a decade of being away. His entry into the King and Queen of Carnival competition, ‘The Dying Swan: Ras Nijinsky in Drag as Pavlova’ gathered a series of varied reviews and placed third in the competition. Minshall would have placed first if the competition was judged on social media. However, I feel some were just praising his work with positivity because they were truly sick of big and meaningless costumes and were excited by the comeback. Excitement aside I personally thought it was a brilliant piece. Minshall has a way of always tickling your brain to make you find the social and philosophical issues he is trying to draw attention to with his designs. He always manages to marry simplicity and complexity and never comes off as being too much. I think so many people commented because it meant something different to everyone. Though it would appear quite simple in pictures, if one actually looks up the Dying Swan and researches the Ethiopian word Ras, which means leader or chief, it’s quite hard to believe that this wasn’t to show his discomfort with the slow movement of acceptance of the LGBT community in the Caribbean. It could also go the other way and symbolize Minshall’s discomfort with how much the culture of mas has transcended into a commercialized movement. The more I analyse it, the more I see that I could be writing for days. But it truly is a reflection of Minshall’s feelings on the environment in all senses – academic, emotive and artistic.
Anya Ayoung-Chee
Anya Ayoung-Chee’s attempt to bring a comeback to costume design with ‘The Lost Tribe’ which placed first runner-up for Band of the Year was the one I was the happiest about. Many say the costumes that are trending are meaningless and are nothing but feathers and beads glued together with varying colour patterns and I agree. My friend in Trinidad once told me that he is afraid of the sustainable value of such designing because people can get quite bored of it and it’s true. If you look at the trends for the bands, you would see that they often try to pull a celebrity vibe towards them to maintain interest. I viewed Anya’s designs for ‘The Lost Tribe’ as a commercial take on Mas but an artsy one, which was filled with creative integrity; a much needed thing, if you want to sustain the true meaning of Mas. They were said to be influenced by Minshall’s past work.
It is necessary for the creative industries to maintain integrity, as much as we would want to dive into popular culture, that five minutes of fame isn’t more valuable that a lifetime of creative respect and influence. It’s a power that really can’t be compared.
