Caribbean Carnival Costume Designer Adds Flair to Festivities

Costume decorator Rodney Duncan adds finishing touches to Julanae St. Forte's parade attire. (photo: Yawu Miller, baystatebanner.com)

The following article is from BayStateBanner.com.

Grove Hall [in Boston] was awash in color last Saturday [Aug. 23, 2008] as more than 1,000 carnival dancers made their way to Franklin Park for Boston’s 35th annual Caribbean Carnival.

The dancers dominated the day, costumed in African, American Indian and Roman-themed creations of wire, fabric, paint, rhinestones, sequins and brightly colored feathers. Some of the creations required many months of labor.

But not those made by Rodney Duncan, designer for D’Midas International, the Trinidad-based powerhouse of Carnival “mases,” or bands.

“I could do five of these costumes in a day,” said Duncan, who arrived in Boston a week before the Boston carnival to make costumes for D’Midas. “There are people who take six or eight months to make a costume. We don’t. If you take that long, you might as well put it in a museum.”

Officially, Duncan lives in Sour, Trinidad. But he spends much of the year in the island’s principal city, Port of Spain, eating, sleeping and working in D’Midas’s Kitchener Street yard.

“We live in the mas camp — all of us,” said Duncan.

Trinidad is the world capital of carnival and D’Midas is a powerhouse among the costume bands, regularly winning competitions for best outfits. The man behind the winning designs is Duncan’s uncle and mentor, Stephen Barrett.

When he was 15, Duncan approached his uncle and asked to learn the craft of decorating costumes. Since that first day, Duncan has been an integral part of D’Midas.

“The first day I went out there, I learned it,” he said. “This is something that’s in your blood.”

Duncan has worked full-time for D’Midas since he was 20. He decorates costumes for the scores of dancers who compete in Port of Spain’s Carnival, the traditional pre-Lenten celebration in which all of Trinidad’s mas (short for masquerade) bands compete for best dancers and costumes.

In Trinidad, Carnival is a national holiday. For many, it begins a month before the official celebration with an extended vacation, nightly parties laced with soca [dance] music, calypso and steel pan bands.

In the summer months, Duncan and other D’Midas associates hit the carnival circuit, decorating costumes for celebrations in Miami, St. Croix, England, Toronto, Montreal, New York and, of course, Boston.

While many carnival bands have affiliations with organizations in Trinidad, D’Midas is unique, operating as a kind of multinational conglomerate. Barrett comes up with the group’s theme for each year, dictating color schemes.

Duncan hits the road, working with wire benders like Pankey Abdul, who is visiting Boston this summer from his home in Montreal and has 40 years of carnival experience under his belt.

The advantage of employing traveling professional decorators gives D’Midas a winning edge in most cities.

“We’re a threat to everybody,” Duncan said. “When they hear D’Midas, it’s a threat.”

While Duncan takes his work here seriously, he said he considers the Hub’s celebration a bit of a joke because of the supremacy of TnT, which regularly wins the king and queen competitions.

Duncan said the fact that Boston Caribbean Carnival president Shirley Shillingford’s three daughters have each won the queen competition with TnT is more than coincidental. This year, with judges brought in from Trinidad, Duncan said he hoped for a more impartial contest.

Whatever the outcome, Duncan seems happy with his work. One day before Carnival, armed with a pair of heavy-duty fabric shears and a fist-full of plastic ties, he secured feathers and fanciful plastic masks to a 12-foot tall wire-framed outfit worn by Glen Foreman, who played the Roman-themed part of Claudius Maximus.

Foreman was gearing up to compete for junior carnival king in the annual Kiddie Carnival event, held in Franklin Park’s White Stadium.

Duncan, Abdul and others struggled for a few tense moments, helping Foreman lift the costume and secure himself in it.

Moments later, Duncan took a drag from his cigarette, admiring his work as Foreman made his way down the track to the judging stand.

“I like watching this costume,” he said. “I like to see my work. When I see it done, I feel good. Sometimes, it makes me cry.”

source:  www.BayStateBanner.com

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