By Mia Anthony
Guyanese fashion designer, 37-year-old Nelsion Nurse started in the Mashramani industry as a teenager in high school.
“I have been designing costumes since the age of 13 and I have been competing competitively with costumes when I was in first form at secondary school designing for my old nursery school. My little sister went to the same nursery school I did, and they would have their annual Mash jam.”
This was his first foray into designing costumes and this moment would cement his creativity within the school system. Admittedly, this is where he began his journey for designing for larger batches.
“At my first costume competition, we came up with third place. That was nice and we went back the second year, that was another third, and the third time we went back we got the first.” Third time was indeed the charm for young Nurse, who began his costume competing journey in 2012.
In 2012 he was given the opportunity to design for adult bands, this would propel Nurse’s star and prominence in the costume industry. The Ministry of Education (MoE) was the first to witness the young man’s talent and potential and this led them to extend an invitation to him to bid to design their bands costumes.
“In 2013 I bid for their band and I won, and I have been designing for the Ministry of Education since 2013.”
Nurse relayed that MoE gives him the freedom to be creative with his designs for their costumes. The design he used for this year’s competition is something he had envisioned since last September and he decided to bring it to life.
He also designs for the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, and the Ministry of Housing and Water. “I did quite a few ministries… some persons feel as though I always give the Ministry of Education my best but I understand Education,” he explained, noting that MoE gives him the freedom to create whereas some ministries limit what they would like their costumes to have.
Costumes prices can range from $40,000 or more per outfit, depending on the design and the time it takes to complete, and because of this, Nurse mostly designs for large groups and rarely does individual designs. Along with the recent surge in inflation in the economy, he noted that prices for costume-related items have also increased compared to the last two years.
“Where budgets are concerned, it is hard when we go to the store to buy a simple plume that we use, it is $3,000 for a single feather.” Reminiscing on his younger years designing with just binding wire and newspaper compared to now using expensive items such as gems, feathers and fiber glass rods, he calls it a privilege.
The MoE recently debuted their Mashramani costumes which were designed and made by Nurse and his team at his Mash Camp workshop. His inspiration for this design was something that he had always thought but that he considered changing the design in respect to all the past school tragedies. In the end, however, he decided to go with the concept of fire. “I was kind of iffy when I wanted to play with the fire concept but every time when I got to the drawing board the fire kept coming back so I decided to do a concept and submit it.” He said that he decided to play with the fire concept as a way to show a passion for learning.
Within the past week Nurse said that he has completed close to 800 costumes which is record for him, he also gives credit to his team for their hands-on approach and the speed at which they are creating the costumes.
