Carnaval! A Yearly Tradition
Every year, a group of us dresses up and goes to Carnaval. It's truly one of the highlights of our year, and we LOVE preparing our costumes and makeup....I thought I'd put together a small retrospective, if you will, of our costumes over the years. From the top, we are: Me (Dana), J9 (Jeaneane), Jennifer, Cara & Sondra. Lots of other folks have gone with us over the years, but these were the best series I could put together of the regular attendees. I've also included two bits of information on attending.
2009 note!!! Hi guys! We had a blast AGAIN this year. More costumes than ever, more dancing, more friends, more, more, more!!! I hope to have my site updated with 2009 photos by mid-March, so check back then. If you'd like to be on my mailing list so you'll know when it's all done, ! If you HAVE photos you'd like me to include, email them to me. I'd love to use them! See you in a month or so!!
To see the full pages for each section, you can follow these links (use the menus at the top to get back here when you're done):
2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 FINALLY HERE!!!
Carnaval Personal Thoughts
Here are some thoughts on Carnaval, taken from the intro to 2003.
Carvanal alone is practically enough reason to have a website to begin with, so this is like my favorite time of year. (Do I love this more or less than Halloween? I'll have to think on that one!)
I want to start with a few words. I heard a lot of stuff from folks this year about Carnaval and their reasons for not going, and it seemed to have a common theme of "fear of debauchery" or like this was some sort of giant ORGY or something where everyone is doing body shots and rolling about on the floor in a drunken or drug-filled haze. NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH, and it was really starting to upset me listening to these people. Sure, there's drinking by some of the crowd, and sure, there were people there on more than a natural high, and - GASP - I saw a few girls' nipples FLAGRANTLY displayed (perfectly legally, may I point out), but I want to go on record saying that Carnaval is
- some of the safest, best fun I have all year
- one of the HEALTHIEST things I do for myself all year
- an opportunity to dance and laugh with some of the nicest total strangers I could ever hope to meet
- one of the biggest creative outlets I have on ALL KINDS of levels
I feel FREE at Carnaval. I am surrounded by people of ALL AGES in all manner of dress. I saw people as young as in their early 20s and as old as in their late 70s. (I actually saw quite a few couples who were "seniors" all dressed up in their sequined dresses and masks, dancing the night away.) Some people were in jeans and t-shirts. Some women wore only bodypaint, thongs and heels - heck, some MEN wore only bodypaint, thongs and heels!!! EVERYONE was smiling. Everywhere I looked, people were smiling and laughing and everytime someone asked to take my photo, they always said "thank you" and I always had a big smile back with a reply of "happy Carnaval"!
The music was AMAZING. I danced almost all night, with two potty breaks (one to actually pee, one to use a little more "emergency glue" on J9's pasties) and only one rest break on the bleachers. I kept running into people I knew and the losing them in the crowd. I ran into Lois and Ryan twice, but lost them while J9 and I hunted for our husbands (Kearson was later found with Nate, who wore horns). I saw two old friends from high school, Chris and Carlos, and Chris and I only managed a quick hello before I lost him for the whole night. Carlos and I found each other later and shared several dances. Katherine, a friend from bellydance, wore a beautiful costume and an amazing mask, and we danced, too! As we would find friends in the crowd, we'd scream and dance and boogie and be so happy, and then WOOSH, someone would be taken off in the conga line and they were OFF! (Sondra told a story about putting her hands on her friend Mel's shoulders just to keep track of him through the crowd and then suddenly people lined up behind them and it was POOF, Mel was leading a conga line!!)
So, basically, if you're not going to Carnaval, I sure don't know why. If you're afraid to go alone, find a friend to go with. Heck, Mac showed up as a surprise totally by himself. Sondra, Lane and I gave him some beads and later he was spotted in a conga line, having a great time. You don't need a costume, you don't need to drink, you only need to come with an open mind and happy feet and a willingness to let your spirit soar for a few hours. You only have from 9pm until 2am, when they turn the lights on, so it's this brief trip into another world. I guarantee you'll leave there with a happy heart and enough stored up mojo to get you through another month or so of winter - maybe until the bluebonnets perk up. Personally, Carnaval juice carries me through all kinds of rough times all year long. I think I speak for my "posse" when I say they feel the same way.
Some Tips About Attending/Preparing to Attend
- Kevyn Aucoin (makeup artist) is a wonderful source of inspiration for
fantasy makeup. His book "Making Faces" is a lifesaver, especially if you
don't know what you're doing. :) Even though we've been doing it for years, J9 and I STILL flip through the pages of this book every year to get new ideas.
- Ben Nye Makeup and Mehron Paradise AQ are the best fantasy makeups you can by. Ben Nye is highly
pigmented and is designed for stage wear. Paradise AQ goes on like watercolor (with a paintbrush) and is AMAZING and vibrant and will give you really precise lines. If you are in Austin, the best place to buy your makeup (and masks and wigs) is The Bazaar (on Riverside). Tell them Dana sent you. :)
- If you can't sew, glue. Use FabriTac. It's a permanent adhesive that
bonds fabric and dries quickly and remains fairly flexible. One year,
almost my entire costume was "whip stitching" and FabriTac.
- Don't be afraid of makeup. More is sometimes MORE.
- Color counts. It's dark at Carnaval, and you don't want to blend in with
the surroundings. You want to "pop".
- Learn how to put on false eyelashes. Don't be afraid to wear more than
one pair.
- Always "test drive" your costume, especially your headdress, before The
Night. That way you'll know if something is wrong and needs fixing.
- Always use a chin strap on your headdress, especially if it's heavy or
bulky. It'll save you trips to the bathroom to try to pin it back on.
- ALWAYS take an "emergency bottle" of eyelash glue, especially if you're
wearing pasties or false eyelashes.
- Never be photographed with a drink in your hand. You'll look like one of
those drunk girls in "Girls Gone Wild". It's just tacky. :)
- Wigs are wonderful if you don't know what to do with your hair. (So are
headpieces.)
- Put glitter on everything. Put more glitter. Seriously, more than that.
- Never let them take your photo while you're sitting down. You won't like the results.
- Fake tan covers a multitude of sins. Neutrogena Self-Tanning Foam is the
best.
- Think BIG. The bigger the better. There's no such thing as excess at
Carnaval. Think "Drag Queen".
- Corsets are your friend, especially if you are more modest and don't want
to wear pasties.
- AND LASTLY, the Cardinal Rule: NUDITY IS NOT A COSTUME!!
- P.S. If you're traveling to Austin for Carnaval, you need to stay here: Embassy Suites - Downtown/Town Lake - other hotels (ok, the HYATT) might KICK YOU OUT for your costume, so stay at the Embassy Suites!!!
Costuming Tips
- Try to pick a theme. You don't have to "be" someone or something, but it's nice to think of a concept. It can be something like a season: Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall. It can be an animal: cat, unicorn, panther. You can be a Queen or King, a mythical creature, an angel or a devil.
- Your theme will lead you to your colors. Spring would be ALL colors, with a base of green accented with pinks, yellows, blues. Winter would be white, silver, with accents in lavender purple or ice blue. If you're the devil, you're red, orange, yellow.
- Once you get your main colors, pick an accent color. For example, my costume this year was black and yellow and deep purple. My accent color was bright red. J9's costume was pink, white and purple. Her accent color was turquoise. That accent color is REALLY IMPORTANT. It makes your costume POP; gives it a little bit of the unexpected, allows you to run that accent color through your entire costume.
- Don't be afraid to experiment. About 40% of what I do each year doesn't turn out the way I intended it originally. I make it up as I go along. Keep an open mind about your costume. It's that open mind that makes you end up with an umbrella strapped to your hips and paper mache balloons on your head. ;)
- Be familiar with your local craft store. Walk through the entire store, from floral to knitting to fabric to stamping tools. You will NEVER know where your inspiration will strike. That cool new yarn might work out to be great in your hair. The scrapbooking stickers look great on your shoulders. That upholstery trim makes great trim for your armbands. Don't forget your local party shop. Sometimes the best party decorations look great on your head! Be aware of what's available and you'll get your creative juices flowing.
- Once you get the basics of a headdress, you can build anything on top of your head. Wire and a chin strap are essential. Use your own hair in a ponytail if you can to help anchor it to your baseball cap.
- Trim, trim and trim again. Build your costume and then add trim. I love the quote "God is in the details". God is definitely in the details of a good costume. Even if no one ever sees whatever detail you put in there, it's still there, and you'll feel it, and you'll reflect the greatness of your costume in your face, your walk. More is sometimes MORE, so more, more, more!
- Don't forget to "test drive" your costume, especially your headdress, before The
Night. That way you'll know if something is wrong and needs fixing.
- Have fun. Above all else, have fun. Enjoy what you're doing, LOVE your costume, and it'll come out OK, no matter what. Your love will show! Your costume will rock!!
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