Butterfly
Tonight was the much anticipated for many band launch, Carnival Nationz. Their In Full Bloom: Fruits & Flowers presentation came on stage at 1:45.
Bright fuchsia & green look good together in Boganvilla. There’s well-placed flower appliqués on the front & back of the waistband covering the bikini bottom. What I like about this costume is the full headpiece, especially the frontline one - good job!
Butterfly – ok, an insect, not a fruit or flower, you say - well, butterfly’s hang out on flowers.
Butterfly – ok, an insect, not a fruit or flower, you say - well, butterfly’s hang out on flowers.
Those wings looked awkward for the models to wear, and were removed for the final walk back out on stage. I immediately liked the fuzzy fuchsia Dragon Fruit, I think it did the best job of representing the fruit. The jewelled top & waistband just stands out. The headpiece is different, with long feathers protruding out in the back. As far as the cage bra goes, the design is beautiful, but knowing the issue with rude riff raff who storm bands, I would certainly want my own security if I was sporting one.
Dragon Fruit
I like the mix of bright orange and greeny gold in Aphrodisiacs, especially in the high jewelled and feathered headpiece. That bracelet-ring combo? Me likey!I also instantly appreciated the design of Morning Glory. The soft blue feathers on the bra, & the waistband neatly and perfectly covers the bikini – well done! The small yet cute headpiece just works on this understated, yet adorable costume.
Secret Garden’s frontline backpack & headpiece are the standout features for sure. More big flower appliqués on the bikini top & waistband.
The Secret Garden 
Lychee
Morning Glory
I’ve always liked brown & blue together, and Scabiosa has such a sparkly jewelled bra, waistband & headpiece. A real bra, yes, thanks for that! Loves it! Many gyrls appreciate that!
Light pink Lychee does look like a pinker version of the sweet fruit, and those teardrop jewels, how pretty. Now what happens when the frontline turns around to reveal tail feathers is that the fruit suddenly became a bird.
Light pink Lychee does look like a pinker version of the sweet fruit, and those teardrop jewels, how pretty. Now what happens when the frontline turns around to reveal tail feathers is that the fruit suddenly became a bird.
Aruja
Boganvilla
Scabiosa
With that collar, Summers Majesty does portray a bright Sunflower. The large sunflower charms hanging from the waistband are a nice touch.
Water Lily’s iridescent headpiece and greeny purple collar do have a lily floating on the water feel. Yup, flower appliqués on the bikini top & waistband.
Wild Roses features a very Vegasy showgirl headpiece and huge rose appliqués on the bra & waistband.
The models in the other white costume were scarily made up to depict Poison Ivy. The shock of bright orange in the headpiece scream danger: poison!
We’ve seen the monokini style before, and Aruja is the super skimpy option. No shortage of flower appliqués. I like the fluffy headpiece.
AphrodisiacsWild Roses
Water Lily
Sunflower
I know many waistbands were designed asymmetrically with beads or flowers on the side, and that is a visually pleasing design, not sticking with the usual. I personally prefer, when playing mas, to have more frontal coverage in a bikini. Purely practical consideration.
Now did anyone else notice an alarming trend? Waistbands are shrinking!! 
Is yeast! Must be the recession. 
Has the cost of materials really gone up that much? 
This lack of assets coverage makes me glad I've been doing P90X!
Has the cost of materials really gone up that much? This lack of assets coverage makes me glad I've been doing P90X!
I was pleased to see that the body paint was tastefully done, just a few well-placed flowers not taking away from the costumes, but rather adding to them in a subtle way.
CNz is getting a jump on very early registration, it begins in 4 days, on Wednesday!!!
The large bright feathers and curly cues on the headpiece look good. Bikini tops rather than real bras are not my choice though. The light blue frontline section with the cage bra is certainly Rio styled. The backpack, which looks very heavy for the model, is outstanding. 
There's a lot going on with the bright blue costume, maybe too much. Could be all the body paint, makeup, face jewels, feather eyelashes and big jewelery though. Sometimes at launches too many accessories can work against a costume. It's certainly vibrant enough on it's own. 
The bra on the red costume looks sturdier to me, & I was instantly drawn to the way it's simply, yet stylishly decorated. 
What I noticed was that adjustments can be made on the waistbands for the red section and the white section. IMO, more can be added, fill them in more, as what you mainly see are the bikini bottoms, and it looks best when you see very little. What makes a spectacular costume is the illusion created that there's no bikini bottom.
If you're a tad more modest and want more coverage, there's always the the c-thong.
So what do you think, is Caribana ready for the c-thong? Bodacious Brazilian bodies can carry off such nearly nude displays, but for the rest of us who weren't blessed with such generous genes, no worries, Rio isn't all about nudity. There's such a wide range of Rio Carnaval costumes with many bands going the traditional route and covering masqueraders in spectacular animal or unworldly creations. 
Geocities photos
While not visually attractive to the spectators watching the parade, I can see the importance of it now, after experiencing for the last few years how much worse it's getting, all these people jumping in with the parade. Carnival Nationz introduced a team of security pulling ropes to keep stormers out (like Trinidad Carnival bands) also in 2007. That annoyed me, because they were also asking masqueraders from other bands to stay out. However, if security using ropes kept the stormers out, ultimately that's good for the CN masquerader. So I expected to see it when we played with them last year (particularly since their prices went up) - but no. I was frustrated with the lack of security. Stormers eventually infiltrated the band. We couldn't help but notice how much the Toronto Revellers masqueraders were enjoying their mas, the vibe in the band seemed true & free - and no wonder, they were free of stormers. 
*Shudder*
How I 
