reinha da bateria/xica da silva/queen of mardi gras

at siyu suen's mardi gras 2009 ball masquerade....

it amuses me much that in my dual world, i have attended carnival in the real world and once in the dreaming, and the difference between my corporeal flesh and the pixel container of my soul is quite striking i think. it is one of my dreams to be reborn in a future life as a samba queen, a rainha da bateria, dancing at the head of a samba school, in full regalia. and so i resolved on wearing a brazilian style outfit. i was very fortunate that the first place i landed had such lovely costumes. the one that struck my eye was a bahia-style outfit. apparently the revelers in bahia wear costumes influenced by native american outfits. when i put it on the first thing that came to mind was xica da silva, the famous/notorious 18 century slave, who was the commander's mistress. i admire her and further more love the actress who played her on brazilian tv (tais araujo). it suited me very well, and so i got to work cutting it down.


siyu's parties are quite exclusive--she only lets 50 people attend for the first two hours, and to reduce lag she requires attendees to limit their ensembles to 200 prims or less. so i had to ask the maker to reduce the back piece by half, and i had to skip wearing hair, because the headpiece alone was 84 prims. all in all i was right at 200 prims. i was lucky because i had a skin with an afro on it already, so i wore that. the gown was not part of the outfit, the original being very skimpy indeed. the ball was meant to be formal, so i wore pieces from the Nicky Ree Mui dress, which magically seemed to match perfectly. my avatar eyes are very small and so i wore blue robot eyes to make them stand out of the mask a little better.

i could not take pictures as i was crashing constantly, at one point crashing during the voting. but it was quite the carnival of beauty. its probably better to look at the pictures, but there were several i thought breathtaking. one of the highlights of the evening was watching acha and momo dance. acha underwent a slight metamorphosis, but she ended in a green skin, with a flowing green skirt, and a black corset, masked and bald. momo wore gold thigh high boots, a flowing purple silk with a pattern on it and a gold belt, her purple skin and purple tipped hair. i voted for the both of them. carthalis wore an 18th century gentleman's outfit, complete with wig and cane and mask. morrigan was amazing, a swirling dryad in deep emerald silks and long black hair. north wore an amazing peacock outfit, full of feathers. there were a group of three evils, long thin women, elegantly attired in black, and looking like they were from an edward gorey book. imagine my utter surprise when the winner was announced and i had been voted queen of mardi gras. it literally never entered my head and so i was caught off guard. the evils shared the prize as an honorable mention, as was only just...i stayed on a little longer but my computer was slow and crashing and it hindered my enjoyment. so i left.

and the next day like a ghost i visited the hall where we had danced the night before, and whirled and spun in a lonely dance of my own.....................

stats:

Gloves, Top, and Skirt: DNR (Nicky Ree) Mui Magic set gold

Headpiece, necklace, shoes, hose, bracelets, tail feathers, earrings, and back piece: MF Bahia Fogo

Skin: Zulu Maiden (afro) Brazen Women Skins

Leg silks: Ronjas Golden Snake set

carnaval brasileiro, austin, 2009

in carnaval gear............................

pax, juana, and teop...........

i was dressed rather modestly, though i had rouged. i didn't wear the pasties. later i was told that my bra was transparent, but i didn't notice it at the time. i ditched the hat, and wore the mask all night. i also stuck with the seamed fishnets though i liked the other hose i had better (striped) but that other pair wouldn't stay up on my skinny little legs.

the shoes were utter death. but fabulous looking. omg i could barely walk in them. and worse to dance in them..........there were parts of the night where i literally had to remove the shoes and hobble along on the icy floor.

the corset was very spectactular though i don't recommend it. there was a point where i thought i was hyperventilating, because it was squeezing me an i had a horrible sensation of unbearable constriction. it was almost like claustrophobia. it is just bearable when standing upright, but sitting in a corset for long periods is nearly unendurable.

pax went as nacho libre.......

he'd been to lucy in disguise, which is a funky costume place on congress. very austin, very old school. he got tons of compliments and was photographed a few times. he was a bit cold though. we were joined by a friend of mine from work and we also had been trying to find poet. i didn't expect him and the vast cavernous auditorium was pretty dark and loud. it was not a repeat of last year's shouting but there were plenty of texts going back and forth and we just were totally unable to see him in the mass of people.

finally he told us to just go to a particular corner and so we did, and while we were loitering around staring at the various plumage that was parading before us, we happened to look over at one of the makeshift portable bars, and there he was, tying his shoe. i had to laugh because even bent over doing something as mundane as this, poet is still incredible.

poet looked spectacular, as usual................

he wore the same outfit from new year's. last year he wore a similar ensemble but it was black. it amused me very much as he was wearing combat boots (last year he had bare feet) and the sole was taped with duct tape on one foot.

but no matter. teop's adornments were his incredible physique, and amazing skin. he was utterly mesmerizing and it amused me because drunk besotted women were totally flinging themselves on him and hanging on him, staring up at him with completely adoring faces.

this was actually the last memory of poet at carnaval i have, for i left for home afters...........................



there really is no way to express accurately or describe the pageantry of the night. and it boggles the mind to imagine that this little event is completely nothing compared to the real brazilian carnaval..........

carnaval gear

Originally uploaded by al-zahra

i have most of my outfit ready. i had a little mishap with the car getting the corset, which was a tad spendy, but omg. it's steel boned and satin, and a more perfect corset i can't imagine. the laces are very very soft, and it is quite comfortable. i noted that many people were going burlesque, and so i guess this outfit when worn will look sort of vaguely burlesque--more like garden variety ho-ish i suppose.

while i was there i bought pasties, fingerless gloves, a bra, seamed fishnets, and a nice jewelry set. the shoes i have had already for quite some time. the only thing i think i need now is a mask.