Bacchanalia Presents Alter-Ego for Notting Hill Carnival

Saturday saw the launch of new mas band Bacchanalia, this new addition to Notting Hill Carnival presents Alter-Ego Through the looking glass. A theme which encourages you to delve into your Alter-Ego.

Bacchanalia was formed in 2005 as a fun mas band, we then saw them re-enter into Notting hill carnival alongside Bachanal Mas. Kelly and Andrew Rajpaulsingh are dedicated to keeping carnival culture alive here in the UK.

"We want to raise the profile of carnival and all the elements associated with it- from what carnival is to making the mas, the history of carnival and the true mas men of our generation, costumes and more"

We arrived at the venue after 11 and was please to see that the show had not started yet, the crowd was friendly and not clicky. The 4 front line sections had us in ore from the moment we stepped in. The oversize feather head pieces, back packs and jewelled bikini lived up to the teases they had been feeding us through Facebook.











The show started with a poetic introduction dissecting the historical elements and creativity to carnival which was a nice personal touch.














This band captured a new vibe and energy which we had not felt in a while, this is essential to creating a great carnival road experience. As long time Notting Hill masqueraders for over 14 years we liked that the band is medium with a capacity of 200, and focuses on good customer service.

On a negative side we felt that the costumes did not have any literal relation to the theme and therefore we could not make any connection to costume and section name (however this is true off so many carnival bands). The biggest deal breaker for us is the price, with Premium Leaders coming in at £295 and £350, Premium section Female £225.00 and males £195.00, which so far makes this band the most expensive for Notting Hill Carnival.

Overall the band gives you stunning costumes and looks very promising for the coming years.

We would like to say thank you to Kelly and Andrew for making us feel welcome.

Check out their Facebook and website for more pics and hype.

Take me back

BA is making me want to book my passage

Tropical Bag Lady

BnnGirls are enjoying this tropical London weather but deep down yearning for the Island girls in us. Accessorizing with our summer bags takes us right back to the beach.



View from the mainland


Beach bums>>>>>>>>>BnnGirls







We have loads ...............................................................


Vintage shopper from beyond Retro


Woven basket with removable strap charity shop find


Vintage hard case bag with weave pattern charity shop find


Every time we go to the Caribbean we love to support the local crafts and purchase these hand made woven bags with raffia flowers.


Love the lining




These ones are old maybe from the late 80s, I forget which family relative brought us back these



Currently our fave just a shame it can't hold much, loving the colours in this bag from Oxfam Wembley



Vintage orange with perspex buckle another Charity shop find

Gotta love the Lemon

We wish we were on that Virgin flight this summer

Parrots

As a designer I’ve seen the recent over kill of birds, in fashion, interiors, wall stickers, stencils, giftware etc. They can be seen perch on your shoulder, flying over your head adorning walls and window displays everywhere, but have you notice it’s the usual quaint English swallows, robins and wrens.

Its now time for the tropics, beautiful hummingbirds, parrots, scarlet ibis with vivid bold colours all native to the islands of the Caribbean.



Continuing the trend Tribe carnival band has just launch their presentation for Trinidad 2009 based solely on tropical birds (check saucy carnival blog for pics of launch).


Picture source

So a few months back I was pleased to see in the Tiger shop in Hammersmith this £2.00 scarf. I loved the parrots placed among the oversized lush tropical leafs. Last week I decided to knock up this skirt.