Throw it back to the last weekend in August and my camera and I were running up and down UCOM’s trucks and sections in the 2018 Nottinghill Carnival parade. I was surrounded by feathers, ‘feters’, and Soca and I wrote it all down on my blog to talk about how amazing it all was. Fast forward to 3 months after the fact and United Colours of Mas (UCOM) have already launched their theme and costumes for Nottinghill Carnival 2019.
Never in my life have I seen such quick execution and timely preparation for a Carnival a year in advance. In usual fashion, I had secured myself a media pass and bided my time until the 25th of November which was the date of the much anticipated launch of Kaleidoscope.
On that Sunday evening I made my way to Scala in King’s Cross and was prepped with my camera, ready and waiting to be blown away by the intricate feather and gem work of UCOM’s top designers. The colours were vibrant, the music was lively and the models ensured that each costume left a lasting imprint on the minds of prospective revelers.
While I adore the costumes and the colour combinations, I must say that the presentation for 2018 held me more than Kaleidoscope. Apart from the show stopping £999 costume, the sections felt to me to be a repeat of the same design in different colours which was a major change from 2018 where each section had a distinct individual look and feel. This uniformity is not necessarily a bad thing as it might be apart of a more polished cohesive look that the band is moving towards and the costumes are beautiful which the pictures will show. This is my only critique of the entire presentation.
Post Publish Addition
After initially publishing the post, UCOM’s creative director reached out to me to give some insight into his vision for the costumes. Having explained it all, I am now more appreciative of the theme and see the necessity for the consistency in design. It will truly look amazing on the road.
“It was intentional that kaleidoscope would have always been a theme about nothing more than colour. All sections were based around one overall design and fabrics were custom printed in different shades of the same colours to form one massive human kaleidoscope. In 2020 we will return to our normal format of individually designed sections”
I’m tired of chatting now so I’ll leave the photos to do the rest of the work.
Section: Red or Dead
Section: Red or Dead
Section: Red or Dead
Section: Orange Bliss
Section: Red or Dead
Section: Red or Dead (Male)
Section: Orange Bliss
Section: Orange Bliss
Section: Feeling Blue (Male) The Details
Section: Feeling Blue (Male)
Section: Feeling Blue
Section: Hello Yellow (Socaholic)
Section: Hello Yellow (Socaholic)
Section: Pink Passion (Hypemas)
Section: Pink Passion (Hypemas)
Section: Monochrome (Amorous Mas) Details
Fun Mas: Euphoria
Fun Mas: Psychedelic (Socamania)
Below we have the most amazing costume of the night; Spectrum designed by UCOM’s creative director Paul O’Donoghue. This costume truly bodied the theme Kaleidoscope and was a combination of colours and gems that really gave you that kaleidoscopic experience. Honestly Amazing and truly a unique piece of work.
Section: Spectrum
Section: Spectrum
Spectrum: Details
Spectrum: Headpiece Details
Section: Spectrum (Male)
Spectrum: Details Male Headpiece | Literally a Visor as Well
My Favorite Photo. Truly Shows The Kaleidoscopic effects of the costume
To see more images of costumes from the UCOM 2019 launch event you can click on the link below. The images are downloadable. If you’re using them be sure to tag me. I also have videos on my Instagram page in my highlights section.
Link to the UCOM 2019 Kaleidoscope Launch Gallery:
https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/df1974007c2a4b77ada8095032edf7e7
To look back at the 2018 Nottinghill Carnival photos and look back at the costumes you can click on the link below.
Link to the 2018 UCOM Nottinghall Carnival Photo Gallery:
https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/50f573fc418a4cada42aa340b21d8765