Rambling

The dreaded question I face when asked about my thesis is what does carnival have to do with architecture? I often begin by defining architecture as any space and giving my point of view; that both city streets and costume are the spaces that the body occupies during festive celebrations. The follow up question is then asked, “Don’t you have to design a building?” and I respond with the concept of the stage as possibly a planned built entity, an appropriated space selected by the masses or the body itself that acts as a stage to express oneself. With these proposed stages there are structures or perhaps a lack of structure that are then paraded upon it. Both the stage and the structures are the architecture I wish to talk about.

With that out of the way, I researched parallels between fashion or costuming and architecture. They both share similar methods and strategies towards their respected end product. They are both expressive of the designers and the people who occupy them. Both disciplines use and experiment with an array of materials that with technological advancements are able to contribute to designs within both fields. Costuming often takes on an architectonic nature with much attention paid to structure and movement as all costumes must be carried by the masquerader and compliment not hinder his movements. On the surface architecture can take on a costuming effect, with the facades or building skins acting as clothing or mask to the interiors. These skins may reflect or hide the buildings interior or and may be structural or purely aesthetic.

What is extremely important to carnival in particular is the fluidity and movement of the costumes that are paraded. Carnival was and still is an outlet for expression of emotions that are repressed during the rest of the year. Hence these costume structures act as extensions to the human body, with every limb and movement appearing larger and grander as it is echoed through the structures.

Another aspect of the costuming of Trinidad carnival is that it is ephemeral. Costumes are only used for the two parade days then neglected never to be paraded again. If lucky they are salvaged for odds and ends of braiding to be used in a newly designed costume. Fashion is also seen as fragile, superficial temporal or trendy where as architecture is regarded as solid permanent durable and strong.

The scale is also different. As mentioned before costuming and carnival uses the body as a stage, as a foundation for its designs where as architecture wishes to house the body or many bodies. However like carnival both architecture and fashion not only protect and shelter the body but are outlets for expressions of identity.

Both architecture and fashion adopt similar terminology, language and vocabulary in its execution and production of its end product. Both are influenced and inspired by similar innovations and by each other as well. They both carry with them a creative process that often begins as ideas on paper, only to materialize later as three dimensional objects.

So here it is established the similarities that lie between costume design and architecture structure. But festival of carnival is not about the static, the costume comes alive due to the individual that inhabits it the same way some architecture is designed and programmed to accommodate the individual who inhabits that space. Designs of costumes and what is classified as a costume has varied and been influenced greatly over the years. Politics, religion and culture all play an important part in its evolution and the costumes that are presently paraded on the streets of port of spain. Also technological advancements and shifts in the countries economy and concept of culture continue to play a vital role. These influences will further be discussed in another chapter.

In fashion often what stands out is that which challenges the norm. Carnival pushes this idea. Over the years costumes and lack of costume seek to challenge the officials and the onlookers. They are daring, controversial, crude and often seek to get a reaction, weather negative or positive, once it has evoked the senses, it has done its job. Donning a costume is often liberating and hence carnival is liberating. It is a world turned upside down and the costume is the added element that pushes the wearer to ecstatic heights unachievable in ‘ordinary’ day to day life. To be other than oneself is often the goal of some who wear elaborate costumes that transform the body’s appearance presenting a new body and on some some level a new self or true self.

Carnival like architecture can be used to give the individual a sense of identity, place and ecstasy. The body experiences and identifies with this.