The Keets in Heat!

Well I must admit that I wasn't there at the Keets band launch (sigh) due to a dinner date that could not be postponed and I was not going to pass up my friend's do, duty calls peeps!

Good thing is that the Griot will be back and in full force over the coming weeks and months.. and I have plenty more details for all yuh on various band launches. Flagz for one, which won medium band of the year, will be launching after it went into false labour last time. Aye yai yaye. I also now have dates for Poison launch so tings getting nice and sweeettt. But as you know nutting sweeter than Burrokeet and from all accounts (read Big Pappy, Martin, Soca Prince), de vibes was nice and de costumes nicer..

So here is my mini review of the costumes. All photos compliments Big Truck Photos (who I must say did a  fantastic job). I was a little bit disappointed because the costumes are nice, but I really expected spectacular. They were pretty but I wanted the boat to be pushed out much further!

The band is called Renaissance but to be honest it is a whole mish mash of different themes and different elements - Egyptians, Party Time, Showgirl.... I aint know, it had a kind of Vegas vibe mix in with an Ancient theme so I was a little bit confused. But maybe if I was at the launch I would have asked them to clarify.

The first costume on display was Egyptians. I liked the colour scheme on this - gold and white with hints of purple but it was probably my least favourite of all of them. I appreciate the full coverage - not all of us are skinny minnies and this is a costume that has a little bit of sexy but is more traditional in the sense that the belt is actually a real belt and not just a strip of material, and there are some flouncy bits going on that would hide the unforgiving areas. The part I liked the most on this was the attention to detail in the beading on the top half. This costume is probably not an option for me but I could see it working on the carnival mammies. The male costume appeared more like a bronze and white but I aint complaining! It is definitely one of the better male options in that it isnt over decorated, making it appear more manly.

Next up was Party Time. Red Red Scorching Hot.  Full marks for the largesse of the headpiece athough I would add more feathers to give it more body!  I like plenty size (take that how you want)-people who "hambugging me" will definitely have to give way, give room for the headpiece(just my kind of thing!).  As for the costume itself, I thought that the red was vibrant enough and the embellishments were just about right- strategically placed gemstones on the bra area and on the monokini straps. Ladies with tummies beware! This is NOT for you. For the slim body size 8s!

 I think this is probably the best male costume for the season. I love the tie instead of the collar and the hat instead of a headpiece. Top marks for wearability. Most times I know guys hate the idea of embellishing too much, they are in the band just to wine on some hot boomsies, so this is perfect.

This one I called the section with no name but it is a definite winner in my books. The Carnival Badjohns will probably step in and say that the colour scheme is like Tribe's Threads of Morocco this year but as far as I know there ain't no patent on colours! The gold and hot pink really works here and is striking. One creative element that I am a fan of was extending the cage concept from the bra to the headpiece. I also love the boa collar as an added extra for the frontliners. Ay ay all yuh ehn see how all man an dey jack have frontline nuh?

Showgirl. The colour palette is definitely unusual- purple and orange but it does seem to work.  The decorations are kept to a minimum and the colours and feathers certainly do the talking. I would definitely play in this- but I would have loved to see the orange blinged out in gold!.