K2K Alliance & Partners

Who they are

K2K Alliance & Partners is the band of Trinidadian twin sisters Karen and Kathy Norman, the band's co-founders and co-creative directors. K2K first took to the streets of Port of Spain in 2012.¹ Early on, the Normans treated mas like a fashion collection: Caribbean Beat described their work as pairing "high-concept design and a couture approach" with real Carnival know-how, with costumes "equally striking on the road or on the runway."² The band's own tagline sums it up: "Where Fashion Meets Mas."³

That approach has won a lot of silverware. K2K took Overall Band of the Year in 2019 with Through Stained Glass Windows, and its 2026 presentation, Pollen Houses, gave the band a third straight Medium Band of the Year title (2024, 2025, 2026).^1,4

What to know for 2027

If you were hoping to play with K2K in February 2027, plan for another band. K2K says it "has made the strategic decision not to participate in Carnival 2027" and is putting its energy into Caribbean x Asia, a multi-year creative project starting in Seoul, South Korea.³ Karen Norman told the Express: "We do not see this as walking away from Carnival. We see it as making space to listen before speaking again."¹

Sources

1. Trinidad Express: K2K's Norman twins follow in their father's textile trail to Asia (opens in a new tab) ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Caribbean Beat: Mas couture, K2K Alliance & Partners (opens in a new tab) ↩

3. K2K Alliance & Partners official website (opens in a new tab) ↩ ↩²

4. TTT: Five And Counting, The Lost Tribe Reigns Again As Senior Large Band Of The Year (opens in a new tab) ↩