After a couple of uncertain years throughout the pandemic, in 2022, Notting Hill Carnival was back with a bang, as celebrations kicked off once again across West London. This year, however, was “busier than ever” according to Dazed photographer Rae Martins Ashton, who headed into straight into the action with their analogue camera in their bag.
Martins was there to capture the best street style and beauty looks from the 2023 edition of Carnival, and as per usual, the people piling into Ladbroke Grove and beyond did not disappoint. Alongside a sea of Jamaican football jerseys and battered denim jeans and jorts were a whole bunch of barely-there looks made up of bikini tops, cut-out body-suits, and bum-skimming minis.
As always, though, it was the Mas looks that were the standout. Throughout the streets, standing on top of walls, and dancing on the parade of floats that wound through the borough’s streets, performers and partygoers stepped into intricate beaded and crystallised looks trimmed with kaleidoscopic feathers and finished with glittering masks as they came out in their masses to celebrate Black British culture for another year.
Click through the gallery above for a closer look at the best street style from Notting Hill Carnival 2023.