His Name is Rio

Last week, for the first time ever: I went to the Rio de Janeiro Carnival.

Well ok, not quite...but probably as close as I'll ever get.

How does a Belgian guy from the humble background of Herve end up being the centre of attention on a float at the world's biggest carnival?

The answer is simple: passion.

This is what I discovered last Sunday when I visited Alain Taillard's exhibition, and, for the first time ever, feasted my eyes on a variety of costumes that have been an integral part of the Rio Carnival during the last decade.

After pouring me a healthy glass of wine, Alain proceeded to tell me about his all-consuming hobby that takes him to the other side of the world every year along with partner Bernard who is only too happy to be his accompanying photographer.

Since the mere age of six years old, Alain has taken part in the carnival at his Belgian hometown, Herve, and over the years, his growing fascination has taken him to Nice, Venice and finally the biggest carnival of all, Rio de Janeiro. Most of us can only dream about the once in a lifetime possibility of visiting Rio; Alain has been to the Rio carnival every single year since 1992 and his dreams came true when he was invited to mount a podium on one of the samba school floats. Since then he has climbed the ranks and earned himself more and more prestigious roles each year and is now officially listed as a destaque, or floatee, with the Mangueira samba school.

Before speaking to Alain and seeing the exhibition, I had little idea of the effort, love and attention that goes into crafting each of these costumes over a period of 6 months. It is purely an indulgent, artistic pursuit: each costume is only used once and for just over an hour during the festivities. Only a true afficionado would be prepared to don this heavy, beaded intricate attire and sweat half their body weight in temperatures that sore above 30 degrees.

The detail and magnitude of each costume astounded me. Having tried my hand at fancy dress over the years, I can safely say that what I witnessed in the Ancienne Halle aux Viande in Liege that Sunday afternoon puts my last minute attempts at cobbling together a Marge Simpson costume to shame. Some of the costumes were even incomplete, missing a few tons of peacock feathers; far too expensive to risk damage in transit and thus, left behind in Rio.

Alain and Bernard fund their annual escapades by hosting similar exhibitions throughout Belgium, definitely a worthy cause for the token price of 2 Euros. You can read more about them here: Carnaval de Rio


Would I try it again? All proceeds via paypal to http://www.sendclaireonafreebietorio.justgiving.com/