Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

  Wow and Boo Hoo. It's all over until next year! We already miss them! The last two mas band costume launches for this summer's Toronto Caribbean Carnival took place over the weekend.  Fantazia launched on Saturday at the Eve Event Space on Northwest Drive in Mississauga, while SugaCayne had their launch on Sunday at their headquarters located at 150 Yorkland Blvd in Toronto.  Take our word for it; many sexy outfits were showcased on stage, and a significant number of costumes were sold. Prior to the start of the evening show, Fantazia Carnival, led by Will and Lisa Morton, informed the audience that they were about to witness a world of the  unexpected, where "Odds and Oddities" come to life! As these pictures  demonstrate, the costumes showcased “the curious trinkets of life's grand  bazaar”. Similar to what fans have seen with other mas camps' offerings, the women's costumes were engineering feats, strategically hiding naughty parts with minimal materi...

TAKING IT TO THE STREETS  By Stephen Weir  Photographer Anthony Berot is taking his art to the streets, even if it means that he and his Mas Model must be prepared to dodge cars, bikes, and bell ringing streetcars.     For the past 12-years Berot has been the official photographer of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival taking pictures of it all, costume launches to the Grand Parade. And now as of Sunday night as the last costume launch ends, Berot is posting samples of all of the 2022 costume events. Pictured above is Mas Model and NBA Dancer for the Toronto Raptors Mohogany Brown poses for Berot on Queen Street West outside of the LuLu Lounge after the end of Sunday night’s SugaCayne costume fete. The portrait was taken without flash, instead he used street lights, shop window reflections and the glare of oncoming traffic did get the trick done.   “It is SugaCayne on the road!” explained Berot. “ Mohogany is wearing  one of the beautiful designs showed ear...

SugaCayne Can And They Will Candice and Dwayne Dixon have launched a new competitive Mas Band that is using 21st century cutting edge technology to put a new Wow factor into the costumes their dancers will be wearing down the road. Their name is SugaCayne, and the mas band already has chosen a costume launch location and date, five section leaders and a theme name – Liquid Courage – that comes with a double meaning. “ Liquid Courage brings to mind something you need to give you the courage to do something you might never ever do (like putting on a mas costume and dancing down Lakeshore Blvd in the annual Toronto parade),” explains SugaCayne co-founder Dwayne Dixon. “Taking it a lot deeper, our costumes will, in part, be constructed using 3-D technology making spectacular costumes that you can’t make with just wire and glue. These 3-D created parts start off in a liquid state, and that takes some courage.” SugaCayne Designs has made a name for itself by designing and building...