Carnaval 2005 - An overview and photos of me!
Skip down to the photos if you don't want to read all this!
So another Carnaval has come and gone and we're left with our memories, our photos, our SORE FEET and all the glitter we'll be finding in our cars, bathrooms, clothes, shoes and hair for the next several months. :)
Carnaval this year was especially interesting on a lot of fronts. First, it was my first "real" Carnaval since Lila was born (remember, last year I was only around for the photos in only the most modest of costumes), and I was nervous about my body, my costume, and excited about being able to participate in something that gives me so much joy and creative juice.
Also, J9 and I had been contacted by a reporter for the local paper, and had been interviewed about Carnaval and our preparations. The guy even attended part of J9's annual Carnaval Slumber Party!! J9 was in the paper (a HUGE spread - see it here!) in what is her best costume yet. JR and Michael also found a photo of her from last year used in a article about Carnaval in a great gay magazine. J9 is SO a drag queen now!!! :)
I was linked off the official Carnaval website and got an average of 1100 hits a day on the intro page I made for them culminating in a whopping 1600 hits the day of Carnaval itself. They also quoted me in an ad they ran. It was really neat!
At Carnaval, J9 and I felt famous. Actually, one guy said that meeting us was like meeting celebrities, he felt he knew us from the website. We had our photo taken - a conservative estimate - about 1000 times! Several people just shouted out my name to say hello. One couple said they had been trying to decide about going to Mardi Gras or to Carnaval, and my page about why I like to attend swayed them to stay here for Carnaval - safer AND cheaper, I think! Another man had driven in from out-of-town to get his costume to come and said it was one of the greatest parties he'd ever attended. Next year, I'm sure he'll bring friends!
This was my biggest costume ever (I know, that's hard for you to believe) and I think I probably stood about 6'9". My headdress was around 5 lbs (I need to weigh it to be sure) and I did a makeup first for me: I waxed down my eyebrows and painted them in "drag queen style" above on my forehead. It went really well! I'm doing a special page on my makeup creation this year, so stay tuned!
We had a really great crowd all dressed up this year, and it was a blast to go, dance and be seen together. The music was amazing, and this year they added drums during the band breaks so the dancing never really stopped. Lane led the conga line around the whole place about 20 times with Kara right behind him. He jumped the whole night, jump jump jump jump and as of three days out, he's still having trouble walking. :)
That said, let's get on to why you're here: the PHOTOS!!! As opposed to quite a few photos on the rest of my site, I had to do almost NO photo retouching on these photos, just correcting some redeye here and there, but the rest is PURE US. I hope you enjoy. (And, as usual, these photos are pretty huge. Sucks to be you if you're on a modem.) I'd like to thank Jon, Mac and Kearson for sharing their photos. Tyrone offered his, but I didn't use any, but thanks anyway!
Let the Photos Begin!
So I was Carmen Miranda AGAIN this year. I'm loving sticking with being Carmen again and again, only coming up with a different headdress and outfit - I actually already have an idea for next year! My headdress is made with 24 plastic bananas (ordered online SO MUCH cheaper than the local craft stores) and a whole lot of wire and netting and foam. I'll talk more about its creation on my makeup page.
A good full-length shot of the whole costume. First, yes, that's fake tan (fake tan ROCKS - use Neutrogena Self-Tanning Foam - NOT the "instant tan", the stuff that develops over time). Second, I made everything you see here but the black skirt and the red thong beneath it. The headdress weighs 5 lbs and I used about 90 yards of fabric on the ruffles. Most everything was put together with "whip stitching" Fabri-tac, probably the single coolest thing I've ever used for crafts. If you haven't used this stuff, RUN OUT AND GET SOME. It's expensive as far as glue goes, but it is SO WORTH it. Trust me on this. VERY LITTLE actual sewing went into this costume. Just glue, glue and more glue. :)
Pretty much the only shot of me from the back that I have, which is kind of a shame since you can see here the pattern of the sequin "fan" on my skirt and the back of my headdress (also adorned with beads). After actually wearing the costume all night, I came to regret putting the beads hanging from the back of my neck to my wrists. They got in the way of the ruffles on my right hip and I think it might have been a bit "too much". :) GASP, what am I saying?!? TOO MUCH adornment for CARNAVAL!?! ;)
Something you also won't be able to really see is that there are sequins all over my hip scarf as well as my headdress that caught the light all night. They don't show up very well on camera, but believe me, in the half light at Carnaval, it was fabulous!
More me with the beads and headdress. It became increasingly difficult to get photos of the full costume, as I was so tall and so wide. I think Lane did a great job though, don't you? THANK YOU, LANE!
I'm posed like this to show you my leg and stocking. Originally, my intent for the costume was to show MOSTLY leg and it just didn't work out that way. The ruffles took up a lot more room in reality than they did in my head, and you could hardly see my legs at all. So here they are!! (Or at least, here's one of them!)
These are the boots I've worn for the last three Carnavals! They're seven inch (yes, SEVEN INCH) platform boots (made by Demonia - the style is called "Bolt" - I got mine from the SUPER helpful folks at funkefeet, who were WAY more helpful and responsive than ANYONE else I tried online. ORDER FROM THESE FOLKS! They rock! Including my headdress, I figure I was at least 6'9"!!!
- Help Me Keep My Site Afloat!