Here in NYC labor day is not only a day off for some people, but a celebration for Caribbean people throughout the city all weekend as the first Monday of each month is when the West indian Day parade is held on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. All kinds of people, but mostly Caribbean people lines the streets to watch are floats with performers and live DJs accompanied by dozens of Masqueraders each all dressed in traditional carnival costumes with beads, jewels, feathers, glitter, paint, and large headdresses. Some carnival goers design and create their own costumes to attend though they are not actually in the parade. Streets are also lined with vendors selling all kinds of Caribbean food, drinks, flags and other accessories with flag and colors on them, pineapples, coconuts, jewelry, noisemakers, and more. I decided last minute to attend this year, here's the look I threw together:
An unspoken fashion rule for what outfit to wear to the parade is: If you are not wearing a costume and you do not have clothes with your flag or colors on them, wear all black and adorn yourself in flags/accessories. I wore an Out From Under bodysuit from Urban Outfitters paired with vintage shorts also from Urban as part of their Urban Renewal Brand. Then I wore Black Nikes, knowing that I would be on my feet dancing in the street all day. I carried a Jamaican flag tied to my shorts which I often took off to wave in the air during the parade, I have a black, green, and gold sweatband on my arm, and I carried a large Jamaican flag which most people tie around their necks/shoulders in the style of a cape which is how I wore it throughout the day. I completed my look with my makeup, green eyebrows and Jamaican flag lips.
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