Trinidad Carnival Costume
Bikini Debate

A statement of female power...

Before we join the debate, here is a
list of Trinidad Carnival Costume Bands where you can purchase a costume online, and a few Trinidad Carnival Tips to make your carnival experience unbelievably special.

Are bikini carnival costumes better than more traditional full body carnival costumes? The answer depends on whom you ask...

 New Phenomenon 

The demand for bikini styled carnival costumes has literally transformed the face of Trinidad Carnival over the last 20 years; and the demand keeps growing. Is this a bad thing or a good thing?

The only thing we can say for certain is that Trinidadians get an opportunity to vote every year when they buy their carnival costumes. And while those who play mas clearly agree that skimpy, bejeweled and befeathered bikini costumes are here to stay, the question remains...
Is this true Trini Carnival?

 The World's Greatest 

To answer these questions fully we'd have to get into the history of Trinidad Carnival because King Carnival has worn many faces, and many masks over the years.

Today's expression of carnival, while lots of fun with its large all-inclusive carnival bands, bikini mas and heavily amplified Soca music, is a new phenomenon that's been around for less than 20 years. But it is a phenomenon that has prompted visitor and Trinis alike to call Trinidad Carnival the world's greatest street party. A party you're personally invited to each and every year.

 King Carnival’s Latest Face 

Today's carnival is about putting away the day-to-day and putting on a freer more hedonistic self for 2 glorious days. And bikini mas can be said to be responsible for much of the popularity carnival enjoys today.

Today's Trinidad Carnival is about friends and good times, when social and racial barriers fall. It's a festival that should be experienced by everyone at least once in a lifetime. And bikini mas, which fits the current face of Trinidad Carnival, is the most popular Trinidad Carnival Costume.

Some spectators complain that bikini mas is monotonus, if you've seen one bikini mas band you've seen them all. They long for the days when bands crossing the Queen's Park Savanna stage portraying unique themes with distinctive Trinidad Carnival costumes.

 Doh 'fraid Powder 

But they forget; during the 1950s Sailor mas was the new phenomena. It was sweeping the country in much the same way as bikini mas is doing today, and masqueraders often played the same mas year after year. If you were a Midnight Robber you were a Midnight Robber every year. Just recently we met a gentleman traveling to Trinidad for carnival who told us that he still plays sailor every year with the same steelband.

 Fancy Sailor Mas 

The difference is that back in those days masqueraders played mas, by that I mean they took on the character. For example, stokers and firemen in a sailor band had a unique style of dance, as did Bats, Beasts and many other traditional carnival characters. Today everyone chips, jumps and wines.

 Carnival Absorbs 

But it's like David Rudder said about Calypso, carnival absorbs, it modifies and transforms outside influences and molds them into Trinidadian forms.

Bikini mas is the new Sailor mas, and in the same way Sailor mas of the late 1940s became Fancy Sailors, bikini mas will be transformed, and become a distinct Trinidad Carnival costume.

 Newfound Female Power 

Some say that the full-bodied Trinidad Carnival costume gives more scope for design, and that's true when speaking from the point of view of the spectator.

But most revelers today are not interested in being a billboard for great works of art, no matter how inspiring; or in wearing a costume that are straight out of a history book, no matter how stirring or noble.
Most people just want to play mas and have fun!

In the past men dominated carnival, today women do. While bikini mas may not please carnival traditionalists, there is one thing that can be said for sure. Bikini mas is a statement of newfound female independence and power at carnival. It screams, I am woman, I am beautiful, watch me play my mas.

So, is bikini mas true Trini Carnival? Perhaps not quite yet. But it will get there. And in the mean time let's all play mas and enjoy the journey, as we experience yet another face of King Carnival.