Thought Provoking Belly Dance Costumes: the good, the bad and the hideous

Shanazel

Moderator
The rusting skirt! I had forgotten about that.

There is so little I see that I like when I wander through photos of modern costumes. I like asymmetry but the asymmetrical bras with one gift-wrapped boob and one plain boob leave me cold. Also tired of tight lycra skirts and the "how much skin can I reveal" costumes. As Amulya pointed out earlier, there isn't nearly enough fabric in these costumes to embellish and I am very, very fond of embellishments.:D I like the stiffness at the bottom of skirt hems that add to flare and I like some of the floral patterns that have been popular for a while. Not so keen on the artificial flower bedecked boobs.
 

Amulya

Moderator
Ive always preferee the oldfashened styles and was very disapointed when all that crazy lycra came in, lycra is for bikini’s and bathing suits isnt it? The First time I saw it used was, strangely, in the 90s with circle skirts by Suraya Hilal dancers! Aka belly dance fundamentalists as we used to call them haha.
 

Amulya

Moderator
Circle skirts in lycra??

Yep! In the 90s in Amsterdam all those teachers who were Suraya Hilal followers had those skirts. Maybe they did that because you don’t have to hem meters of fabric ?
think a floor length easily to stumble over version of this:
 

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Daimona

Moderator
Hm... That blue...
I bought a lot of lycra an other fabrics to make costumes and training gear once upon a time, but life happened.
Maybe I actually should use some of it to make myself some new swimwear instead? :think:
 
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Shanazel

Moderator
There just isn't much new or interesting out there in terms of costumes. Depressing. I keep waiting for Suzanne to bop by and share photos of the costumes she bought recently. Very pretty. The red one looks like someone built is especially for her. Traditional bedlah and full skirt.
 

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Ariadne

Well-known member
There just isn't much new or interesting out there in terms of costumes. Depressing.
Agreed.

I love this one:


The nipple circles on these two always make me snerk a little.



Aren't they from the French Cabaret time period?
 

Amulya

Moderator
There just isn't much new or interesting out there in terms of costumes. Depressing. I keep waiting for Suzanne to bop by and share photos of the costumes she bought recently. Very pretty. The red one looks like someone built is especially for her. Traditional bedlah and full skirt.

nothing new and interesting? What about these few bits of fabric:
(only 300 euro)
 

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Amulya

Moderator
So I have a costume tips and questions group on Facebook.... someone posted this. I so want to commment ‘please don’t try, it might end up in a disaster’. I think those costumes you can buy have that very thick wide transparent bra strap stuff . That would be quite strong, but it will eventually disintegrate
 

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Shanazel

Moderator
I am so tired of this page timing out before I can post an answer. :mad:

What I said before I was so rudely interrupted and deleted:

I don't understand the allure of invisible means of support bras. They're basically just over-sized pasties. The red one below look like the center connection gave way just as the photo was snapped, sending boobs flying to both sides. The blue and silver one wins "face of the day award." I really like the assuit and coin bras. Wonder how much the latter weighs?

zxzz.jpgzxz.jpgzxxz.jpgzxxxz.jpg
 

Amulya

Moderator
Oversized pasties! That needs to go in the forum dictionary! Remember we had one!

The red one is probably glued on, where is the centre connection? It looks indeed like it’s snapped off. The blue face is sad and the assuit and coins make me happy! I can confirm, a bra like that is HEAVY! The ones on mine here don’t all show and I avoided too many coins by adding that trim, otherwise it wasn’t doable



 

Amulya

Moderator
Just noticed, those coins go even all on the backband! That must be a smaller size bra because those are real coins, no way that could work out for bigger sizes unless you’re a body builder and can handle the weight :lol:
 

Ariadne

Well-known member
So I have a costume tips and questions group on Facebook.... someone posted this. I so want to commment ‘please don’t try, it might end up in a disaster’. I think those costumes you can buy have that very thick wide transparent bra strap stuff . That would be quite strong, but it will eventually disintegrate
I believe it can be strong but they don't last. The picture you posted asks the question what it's made from and the answer is plastic or silicon. The cheaper plastic ones become brittle and eventually break; they can also discolor long before that. The silicon ones are probably more comfortable but can stretch out of shape and will eventually breakdown. Either way it's a longevity issue as well as looking like "over-sized pasties" (thanks Shanazel :) ).

Honestly I have been wary of the clear straps of any kind ever since my instructor told me about a time she was performing with a bra with clear straps on a hot day and after two hours when she went to change the straps took a layer of skin off where they had stuck to her. Evidently it was quite painful.
 
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