Miami-Broward Carnival is gearing up for its annual party, packed with culture and tons of bling. The multiple day celebrations include tons of food, entertainment and a parade full of feathery costumes that could make a peacock jealous. We’ve got a sneak peek of the grand looks and they scream the bigger the feather, the bigger the fun.
Stop, drop and whine it out at Miami Carnival.
John Beckford: “Here we are, 41st edition of Miami Carnival. It’s all about the beauty, the pageantry.”
This weekend-long Caribbean celebration starts Friday with steel pan jamboree.
Then Saturday, where the rain is welcome.
John Beckford: “We don’t mind if it rains Saturday. J’ouvert is all about getting messy. It’s the water, the paint, the mud, it’s a lot of fun. That starts at 7 a.m., by the way.”
The grand “Carnival Day and Concert” goes down Sunday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and the road promises to be filled with bold costumes.
John Beckford: “The regal look, that feel that you get when you kind of, like, own the road, I’m telling you, the beauty this year, it’s kind of like unparalleled. You’ll just be amazed, you know, some incredible work, you have incredible designers.”
Designers like the 305’s very own Lila Nikole.
And just like many, Carnival was an experience of freedom for her.
Lila Nikole: “I went to Jamaica Carnival on a weekend with my friends and we just bought costumes off of a website. We didn’t know what Carnival was and the second we experienced it, I was like, ‘I need this.’ I’m kind of one of the newer faces but I’ve been doing Miami ever since.”
Color on top of bling, that’s her process.
Lila Nikole: “I love color on color with some color and, like, more obnoxious color, that’s the way I design. This year, I had to design two costumes for Miami and they’re for sister bands, ‘Competitors,’ and they let me choose the theme. Both of them were inspired by tribes. So one of them is called Taino, I’m Puerto Rican, so I dug into my heritage to find little trinkets.”
The grander the feathers, the better.
Lila Nikole: “Feathers are like an art right, and they are my nemesis, also it has a lot of orange, aqua, hot pinks and the other one is softer, but with edge, like a mohawk with some pretty pastels, but it can’t be too pretty for me.”
Believe it or not, there’s still time to get these handmade costumes.
Lila Nikole: “You would go online and you would pick your type of top, your type of bottom, your type of head piece, leg piece, like an a-la-cart. I want every girl, guy, whatever, to be able to wear costume, to feel strong and powerful and to climb up a wall and do a cartwheel and do whatever they want and it’s still on and they look fantastic. That’s my goal.”
Ticket prices vary and so do the locations of the events.
To buy tickets, click here.
For more information on costumes designed by Lila Nikole, click here.
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