the most extravagant costumes during rio's carnaval are shown off at the official parades in the sambódromo .

costumes, or fantasias in portuguese, are one of the judging criteria during the annual sambódromo competition.

the more creative and memorable the costumes, the better the samba school's chances are at winning.

the costumes are an extremely important part of the schools' parades and presentation theme, but scored separately.

each parade has a theme, and tells a story via an original samba song, costumes, and floats.