Every year it gets more difficult to distinguish which masquerader belongs to which Carnival band: the women wear jewel-and-bead encrusted bra tops with beaded belts covering bikini bottoms, and feather-optional headpieces, while the men flaunt their muscles in barely-there boleros or bandoliers, and shorts. Just different colours, of course, to indicate which one of the larger popular bands the beautiful people will be chipping in: Harts Carnival, Poison, Legends, Barbarossa.

Whatever happened to the craft? Where are the bats, midnight robbers, minstrels and fancy sailors? The jab-jabs and Dame Lorraines? Where have the traditions gone?

We move with the times, respond the bandleaders, and most of all, we are business men and traditional mas does not sell. However, a vibrant few plan to weave tradition into the choices offered a savvy 21st century mas-playing public.

Consummate masman Peter Samuel, together with designer Brian MacFarlane, is producing an unusual section for Barbarossa’s Untamed this year. In earthy tones without beads and sequins, and modelled after the indigenous wear of the Papuans, Samuel believes there’s a market for these costumes.

“Someone told me that they were very Minshallite (after Peter Minshall), and I said to them, ‘So what? That’s a big compliment.’ I’m not giving up. For years our children’s Carnival has been far superior to ours, it’s like chalk and cheese. I cater for the older person who wants to play but can’t in a two-piece. But the younger and fitter people have also responded positively. There are about 10,000 people in total who used to play with Minshall and Wayne Berkeley. But where are those people now? They don’t have anywhere to go.”

Samuel insists that these masqueraders don’t participate because they don’t want to wear bikini and beads, and there are few alternatives.

“I’m not against any bandleader who chooses to go with the bathing suit and beads, because they are businessmen, after all. But I find that any and everybody are calling themselves designers. They stick a bead onto a bikini, and designer! I know Carnival is commercial and so I can’t get vex, but please, give it some kind of thought.” He knows that his section will not sell out, and not only because of the type of offering. World events and the shortness of the season have also contributed to the slow sales. However, Samuel thinks that his trend will catch on.

“I’m doing it this year, and the next,” he says. “People may not know about us now, but next year we’ll attract more. We’ve lost that creativity. I don’t find that a woman walking down the street in a bathing suit attractive. Take that suit and add a sheer wrap or a skirt with a little slit. Leave something to the imagination, and that's sexy.” In contrast to Samuel’s more-is-sexy, Legends’ honcho Mike Antoine wants to move the craft forward and is convinced that the bikini mas is where we are now.

“Swimsuits are sexy and that’s what the masquerader wants,” he says. But this has not stopped Legends from paying tribute to the past in their 2002 presentation Nostalgia. Sections are loosely based on pioneers of the craft both in costume design and music. Edgar Wylie, the most famous batman of them all, can be found in a modern interpretation with silky wings and beads, “Wylie’s Legacy,” there’s also the “Tamboo Bamboo” rhythm section, and one of the oldest Port of Spain steelbands “Blue Diamonds”. Antoine is a businessman.

“You have to be smart. It’s a short season and though we’re not sold out, we are on track. We cater for 2,500 to 3,000 masqueraders, and traditional mas just does not have the money. What gone, gone.” Over at Harts Carnival mas camp, public relations officer Zarna Herrera says that while their masqueraders dictate the shape and form of their costumes, “we are not ruled by them”. Designer Gerald Hart prefers doing inventive productions but once again, people shy away from too much. “Last year I tried sections with capes and full masks and although people wore it, they grumbled. I know that if I do that every year, people would leave us. They do want something different to the braid and beads, but they don’t know what,” Hart admits.

He explains that the cost for traditional costumes with rich fabrics like velvet and brocade would be very expensive, and Herrera added that most people who play with them are into “looking good and freeing up”. And it’s not only young fitness freaks who look forward to a good time.

“There’s a couple, Granny and Grampa Gomez, who has been playing with us for years, and they are 85 years old.” However, the costume is modified to suit Mrs Gomez' sensibilities.

This is the tenth anniversary of Hart’s mother Lil’s death and the presentation this year, Latin Fire, is a tribute to her Venezuelan heritage. But once again, as with every bandleader who makes a living solely from Carnival, money is the deciding factor on what goes.

Latin Fire has sold out its 21 sections.