A Celebration of Trinidad and Tobago's Carnival

SINCE its arrival in 2020, Kinetic Mas has stayed true to its directives: to create pathways for new and unrecognised designers, as well as to restore a degree of depth to the storytelling of masquerade.

This approach has secured the band two titles, including this year’s Medium Band of the Year with Yokoso, and, in 2020, the Large Band of the Year, with the Peter Minshall-designed Mas Pieta. It has also made bold choices in tackling themes and novel ideas for its presentations.

It continues to follow its mandate with its 2025 presentation: Celebration.

Bandleader Peter Samuel said the concept gleans its inspiration from celebratory practices across the globe.

Kinetic has employed fashion designer; Sheldon Warner, 53, who designed five sections of the 2025 band. Warner has his own clothing brand, SM Warner: Art With Attitude, and has been in the fashion business for many years, but this is his first time designing mas costumes. But it has always been his dream.

In a phone interview, Warner said he also works at UWI as a senior administrative assistant.

His brand is composed of hand-painted, one-of-a-kind clothing for women and men and he also has a home collection.

“It is more or less about doing hand-painted work on any kind of canvas: clothing, artwork, tableware,” he said.

Being involved in TT’s fashion world, he has worked with Miss TT delegates for both Miss Universe and Miss World competitions as well as Mr TT. Although his business is now largely online, he once had a physical store at Colsort Mall, Frederick Street, Port of Spain.

Warner always loved Carnival's creativity and described himself as an avid follower of Minshall’s work.

While he was given a chance to design costumes before, it did not mesh with his aesthetic.

“When I was younger, in QRC (Queen’s Royal College) and so on, I always wanted to design my own costume and play king of Carnival, king of the band or whatever. I think when the opportunity came before, it was not my aesthetc.”

Warner described his aesthetic as flowing cloth, sophistication, sensuous and not sexual.

Since he knew he wanted to design costumes at some point in his career, in 2020 he played with Kinetic to learn more about the mas experience.

“I wanted to be able to experience what it was like to play mas before putting someone in something I designed. I wanted to know how it felt on stage or on the person. If the person could wear a cape, a backpack, all of these issues,” he said. The opportunity for him to design for the band came through a conversation with Samuel. They were discussing something else, but he asked Samuel about the process for new designers interested in working with the band and brand.

Samuel sent him information about the band and told him to submit a proposal. He did, and then did a draft design for one section. That one morphed into five.

For Celebration, he used the band’s underlying idea of people from different regions of the world to “celebrate” in TT’s Carnival.

He looked at the cultural symbols of each region and used them to inspire his designs.

“My interpretation as an artist/designer was to pull whatever is the colour associated, whatever is the clothing and give it that kind of my twist and modern feel. Or what I, as an artist, interpret the art to be.”

Asked how he was able to innovate but still stay true to his aesthetic as a designer, Warner said his brand is usually loose-fitting clothing with a Caribbean feel.

Vibrant colours also form part of that, he added, and this blended with Kinetic’s aesthetic, Warner said.

A unique feature of the 2025 presentation is an all-male section, Kinetic Warrior, in green or red.

Warner did not set out to do it.

“I went in there designing, as I did for all the sections, both male and female. After designing the kilt and the backpack with the harp, cape and the sword, it was a very masculine feel.”

The male costume was so strong, they decided that section should be exclusively for men.

Although this is his first time designing costumes, Warner hopes it won’t be his last.

He was happy to have done his first costumes with Kinetic because he did not have to alter his own design values to work with the band, and is waiyting eagerly to see them brought to life.

“It was definitely a learning experience…I am excited to see the mas come alive. The imagery of being on the road, seeing the masquerders in your creation, seeing them moving however they wish to move...That breeze, the heat and the feel and the smell of everything.”

Celebration was launched on August 10 at Kinetic's Alberto Street, Woodbrook, mas camp.