Black is at the bottom end of the designer market when it comes to price, but his creations have brought joy to many down the years.
Star designer Peter Minshall is encasing his Mas band Callaloo, one of the most famous carnival groups, in enormous creations carrying critical slogans. A top Mas band needs up to 20km of fabric for 2,000 costumes.
Minshall has also chosen the color white as a protest at the riot of color that is carnival. One of his main themes is the environment, and he also has a go at what he calls the "imitation hysteria" of the modern world while promoting tradition. Mishall believes carnival should be "theater in its most original form."
Carnival takes such a creative form on Trinidad, because the island, with its smaller sister Tobago, is a melting pot of immigrants from Africa, India, Europe and Latin America. The island's churches, mosques and Hindu temples bear witness to the diversity of the population's origin.
Ash Wednesday by no means marks the end of the party in the Caribbean. More than a dozen other islands, such as Antigua, Grenada, Cuba, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic hold their celebrations at some point between April and August.
The Bahamas, St. Kitts and Montserrat celebrate in December, remembering the slave revolts and recalling their African heritage.
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