Moore hopes to pull off another 'Best Designer' award
Costumes to depict golden rice fields, green forests
By Neil Marks
Guyana Chronicle
February 22, 2004
DEREK Moore is going all out this year to recapture the Mashramani Designer of the Year prize.
When he collected the winning trophy from Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport last year, the top local designer must have flashed back to 1994 when he emerged on the scene and his design won King of the Band.
You might know Moore for his involvement in pageantry, but his flare for fashion and design Mashramani time is making him a number one choice of those competing in the annual February 23 costume and float parade through the streets of Georgetown.
Last year, the Ministry of Fisheries, Crops and Livestock asked him to design for them, and so he acquired 10 000 small white plastic bags and created a giant chicken resembling what the rural folks would call a "sen-seh fowl".
The big chicken led its chicks around town and when it came by the judges' stand, they "weighed" in on it, landing Moore the coveted prize.
And so, Mr. Satyadeow Sawh, who now controls both the Ministries of Agriculture, and that of Fisheries, Crops and Livestock, called in Moore to do the design this year again.
This year marks the International Year of Rice and Moore's design this time around will take the form of a giant rice field and will show how rice is sowed, how it is taken care of when it is in its green-yellow glory and when it gets the golden-brown indication that it is ready for harvesting.
To create the masterpiece, Moore had to get together about 500 brooms.
Believe it or not, each pointer from the 500 brooms was applied with paste and then small pieces of foam with the desired colours were stuck on to give it the appearance of rice stalks.
Moore's workers took three weeks to complete the task, including chipping the 20 suitcases of foam!
The float will show a depiction of someone sowing rice the traditional way, and of course, the cows that normally invade the fields have not been left out.
However, Moore has more on his hands for Mash 2004.
He is also designing for the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC).
The revellers for the Ministry of Home Affairs will have to do the job and bring out Moore's unique idea of portraying unity among the races of Guyana.
'Harmony in Colours' is the name of the design. Revellers will be decked out in white and silver costumes.
As they parade through the streets of the city, the participants will wet their hands with coloured paint and will stamp those around them.
By the time they reach the National Park, the paint from the handprints is expected to soak into the fabric, leaving the costume multi-coloured.
For the GFC, Moore is creating 'Dancing with the Forests'. Interestingly, the huge full-grown trees will be dancing tall, depicting the "graduation" stage, meaning that they are ready to move on in building Guyana.
With these three major floats and costumes, Moore is hoping to remain the premier Mash designer.