Bacchanal Jamaica’s 2019 season is slated to officially kick off in February. But, according to Michael Ammar Jr — co-director of carnival entity — their season begins at the Hope Zoo in St Andrew tonight. The occasion is dubbed Invictus.

“Tonight is the start of Bacchanal 2019 and patrons shouldn’t only just expect a band launch but a great fete as well,” Ammar Jr told the Jamaica Observer.

This year, the theme Invictus was chosen to invoke the warrior spirit within.

“We want people to come out to Bacchanal, forget their worries in life, and party along with their friends, this is also why our tag line is ‘Conquer Life’, he explained.

Bacchanal Jamaica will reveal unveil more than 10 costumes and their new system, based on feedback from customers.

“We expect patrons to come and be wowed by our fantastic line-up of costumes.”

There are six sections, each with three versions. In the mix are male costumes, a T-Shirt and Allied section.

Designers range from Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, and US-based Caribbean nationals to increase variety.

“We don’t just do a frontline and backline like the other bands. Bacchanal Jamaica strives for a wider cross-section of body styles to fit our clientele,” he said.

Further enhancing the dress options is the new Build-A-Costume systems allowing customers to piece together their own.

“Again, it was based on customer feedback. Because of how intricate modern costumes are now, there are some that don’t want everything, so they can choose from the base costume and then pay for whatever extra pieces they wish that would have made up the complete thing. This makes some of the more elaborate costumes affordable and more personalised,” Ammar Jr added.