Notting Hill Carnival, Europe’s biggest street party and celebration of Caribbean culture, which brings millions to west London, celebrates its 60th anniversary this weekend, and many of those involved – from masqueraders and food stall owners to organisers and band leaders – will be marking their own carnival milestones too.
For award-winning soca music artist and Notting Hill Carnival costume designer Ms Desire, born Louise Sterling-Jackman, the festivities will mark 30 years of taking part.
“My earliest memory of carnival I was probably like five or six,” she tells me. “It was the first year that I actually got to play mas [join a masquerade band in costume] because my mum used to go to carnival all the time, and I used to have to just stay at the sides and watch.”
Desire wore a Flintstones-themed costume her mother stayed up all night to make. And her experience of transitioning from spectator to an active participant sparked a lifelong love affair with carnival.
“I loved it. It was like a feeling of, ‘oh yeah, I’ve arrived,’” she recalls. “Then ever since that, I’ve just been going every single year.”
