Malis­sa Lara

Skull­dug­gery is not some­thing good when it comes to moral­i­ty, but it cer­tain­ly will be eye-catch­ing when de­pict­ed in next year's Woi! Mas pre­sen­ta­tion. Us­ing re­al news­pa­pers to help cre­ate their char­ac­ter Ma­co, and bro­ken hearts to de­pict Horn Man, this 24-sec­tion band has tru­ly max­imised on cre­ativ­i­ty. Band­leader and mas de­sign­er, Pe­ter Samuel, said Skull­dug­gery... dance of de­ceit, had cos­tumes to ac­com­mo­date every body type. The band held a brief­ing and screen­ing for vol­un­teers for their Ju­ly 4 launch in Wood­brook, Port-of-Spain, yes­ter­day. Un­like the trend of biki­ni and beads, this band will launch its first pre­sen­ta­tion with some of its char­ac­ters ful­ly-dressed, down to sheer panty­hose, at The An­chor­age, Ch­aguara­mas.

Some of the cos­tumes are lay­ered and may take some time to be put on. Samuel said the cre­ative side of mas was dy­ing, and added that the band sought to bring san­i­ty back to the mas. "I can guar­an­tee that when you are walk­ing down the road in your cos­tume, no­body will ask you which band you are from," he said. For those who may cringe at be­ing ful­ly- cov­ered next year, Samuel as­sured a young au­di­ence mem­ber that the cos­tumes would be "breath­able."

Those de­sirous of be­ing ex­tra sexy can cer­tain­ly play the Soucouyant, which has white skele­tal hands as the brassiere. Mas de­sign­er Sonya Sanchez-Arias showed the cos­tumes in var­i­ous stages, from the in­tri­cate de­tail­ing of head­pieces to even re­al noise-mak­ers. A strik­ing head­piece, com­plete with a mask called Vai-que-vai, was breath­tak­ing in its bright hues. Even the men will not be left out and will be dressed in more than a three-quar­ter-length pair of pants.

Samuel said they were try­ing to make their cos­tumes as pow­er­ful as those of the women.