Bright colours and floral patterns contrasted with dark tones and blacks. Using a script reminiscent of Netflix’s Bridgerton series and its narrator, Lady Whistledown, K2K Alliance & Partners took its audience through its 2024 collection but also addressed issues of gender disparity, slavery and race.
It was not the typical band launch with soca, frenzied bodies and wine and jam. Instead, with the use of pop, techno, R&B, the popular Carnival medium band took the audience at Queen’s Hall through a personal story of slavery, colourism and spirituality.
[caption id="attachment_1033143" align="alignnone" width="1000"] The Salt Crossing - Desert Season 2024 mas presentation by medium band K2K Alliance & Partners was launched at Queen's Hall, St Ann's on August 30. - Jeff K Mayers[/caption]
The launch began promptly at 7 pm at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s Road, Port of Spain and was followed by an afterparty at Brian Lara’s residence, Knaggs Hill, Port of Spain.
In its opening piece, dancers in floral dresses with hints of the 18th century moved to calm, soft music.
This was followed by K2K's Colour of Courage series which featured former co-president of Savage X Fenty: By Rihanna Christiane Pendarvis. Businesswoman and personality Nicole Dyer-Griffith sat in the role of interviewer as they spoke about race, gender and breaking the glass ceiling.
[caption id="attachment_1033142" align="alignnone" width="1000"] K2K Alliance & Partners The Salt Crossing- Desert Season - Jeff K Mayers[/caption]
Prior to the discussion, images of women in various leadership, professional, political and cultural roles through the centuries flashed across the digital backdrop. Among them, Harriet Tubman, Calypso Rose, Josanne Leonard, former president Paula-Mae Weekes and Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
The audience erupted into applause when the image of the late calypsonian/singer Denyse Plummer, who died on August 27, appeared on screen.
Pendarvis discussed what it was like growing up in the deep South in the US in the time of segregation, as background to the wider discussion.
She said, “I brought, in all honesty, some of the baggage of that upbringing with me when I moved into my professional career. And what that baggage looked like was this idea that there was your personal life and there was your work life and those two things were separate and distinct.
“You did not talk about your personal life in mixed company, that was what we called it…”
She told a story about having Jewish friends who did not know what it was like for her and her husband as black people in the US.
Pendarvis said she shared the story with Dyer-Griffith and the wider audience to pivot to what it truly means to create “a seat at the table for everyone – women, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, the disabled.
“What it really means to create a seat at the table inside a company, church, family, organisation means that you have to humanise and personalise. Share your lived experiences with people,” she said.
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