Thread: Skirts Too Sheer

Does anyone have any opinions on sheer skirts?

If the belts are long enough to cover the "naughty bits", does it matter that the legs show?

I'm torn.

Azeeza

Nope, doesn't bother me a bit.

Get some boy-shorts to make extra sure you don't show any cheek and go for it!

I think it depends on whether your legs are okay with it... :-)

I'll show you some leg!

picture7

So, no, it doesn't bother me. I don't own this costume any more (old picture!), but I still own bras and belts that I wear with chiffon skirts, and I like 'em. Just wear boy shorts and make sure the belt covers visible undies and you are good.

My old teacher/company director use to make us wear thongs under these types of costumes. THONGS!!!!! And if she caught you in granny panties, you were dead meat. Now THAT is when I have a problem with sheer skirts.

I don't like it. I see little difference between a transparent skirt with boy shorts and just boy shorts.

For myself (but not for others) I have some issue with sheer skirts. I lean more towards more coverage so that there are just hints and glimpses of leg (yes, I can be a tease). ..l;, Of course, at 170-180 lbs I'm no "little thing" either. ,r:;

Originally Posted by DeborahDances

I don't like it. I see little difference between a transparent skirt with boy shorts and just boy shorts.

To me, there is a huge difference between "transparent" and "sheer." IMO, transparent means you can see directly through to the leg - so, like a skirt where you could see how tan your legs actually are.

A sheer skirt just shows the shape of the leg - but not the color (you leg is a shadowy figure the same color as the skirt).

IMO - transparent = not pretty, sheer = pretty.

Edited for comparison: Here's a pic of transparent: http://www.holga-dance.de/images/dresses/LA_sky1.jpg

The pic of me I posted earlier is what I consider sheer.

I don't like to watch a dancer and worry that I'm about to see something I shouldn't. If it's clear that she has something on under the skirt, I relax. If it's just the waving fringe between me and a USO (unidentified shimmying object), I can't enjoy the performance.

Multiple layered sheer skirts, which obscure more, can look great.

I've worn an assuit skirt with boy shorts. It's pretty nekkid but what the hell, it was fun. Only negative comment I got on it was that some people thought it would have looked better if my belt had completely covered the (black) shorts, so you never got any Sense O Crotch, but unfortunately to wear a belt that deep would mean I couldn't really move my legs. Fortunately though, the time I debuted it we had *just* been watching some Golden Age clips and everyone had been going gosh, what leggy outfits, how nice - so it didn't come out of nowhere.

ETA: There is a pic of it in my gallery now but I don't know how to link it here.

I forgot to mention, I'm not much of a harem pants wearer unless I'm doing floor work with a sword or something.

I'm considering everyone's advice.

Thank you,

Azeeza

Originally Posted by Azeeza

I to mention, I'm not much of a harem pants wearer unless I'm doing floor work with a sword or something.

I'm considering everyone's advice.

Thank you,

Azeeza

If it's about showing leg or not, I have no problems with a solid panel skirt split at the hips with the legs exposed but I find I'm more distracted by a sheer skirt. I think, esthetically, it takes away from the flow of the costume and distracts from the hips.

Originally Posted by danielabellydance

My old teacher/company director use to make us wear thongs under these types of costumes. THONGS!!!!! And if she caught you in granny panties, you were dead meat. Now THAT is when I have a problem with sheer skirts.

Eek, now my first teacher wore a bra and belt set with *just a thong* underneath to teach. Seriously, if you wonder why I gave up after 2 lessons and took 4 years to venture into another bellydance class...

There's always those invisible undies now, they come in shorts (but how would you find them in your drawer) but there is still the issue that your audience might worry that you arn't wearing anything underneath

Zumarrad's assuit skirt:



That is a neat look. Very Oriental-style use of assuit. It's given me inspiration for an assuit costume I'm working on!

(To post a gallery photo, right click the picture in your gallery, select "View Image," then copy the URL of that page and use it as the image source in your post.)

I'm on the fence about sheer skirts. I always layer the one fairly sheer chiffon skirt that I have. I recently noticed that the skirt on one of my costumes is more sheer than I thought it was (you can see in this photo that it shows just a bit of leg), and I've been trying to decide whether I should find a way to layer it also.

I tend to be pretty selective about how much skin I show in a costume. I don't like to look too bare: I think it can be hopelessly distracting for a North American audience unaccustomed to seeing the female body in any non-sexual context. I would probably prefer a sheer skirt in a costume that covered more of my torso.

A skirt that shows the legs visually shortens the body, while I try to create a longer look to balance my long torso. And being able to see the legs takes the mystery out of some hip movements, so that it's more difficult to pull off the gliding-on-air choo-choo shimmy, for instance, since the audience can see your knees pumping.

So, in sum, I don't love the sheer look on me, but I haven't formed a solid opinion on sheer skirts in general. Please blame the convolutedness of this post on the lateness of the hour -- apparently it's past my bedtime!

Also:

Originally Posted by Kash13

Eek, now my first teacher wore a bra and belt set with *just a thong* underneath to teach.

Blech! ..c::

Hmm, it's obviously just a personal preference thing, in that I don't think that they're "wrong", or anything, but I'm not a fan. I'd rather an opaque skirt with a slit - even two - than a sheer skirt. I find them a little distracting, and IMO it makes the belt look like it's "floating" off the costume.

-- Natalie

Originally Posted by Kash13

Eek, now my first teacher wore a bra and belt set with *just a thong* underneath to teach.

are you sure she knew she was teaching belly dance and not belly dance themed stripping?.p:: i swear i wish there was some minimum code of ethics in this this dance, although in reality that would be super problematic on many levels.

re: sheer skirts
if it is sheer material but very full, like the "golden age" films where you can't see booty or between the legs, i'm ok with that.
when i can see inner thigh and booty, its too distracting...imo

bottom line [pun intended] if it concerns you / makes you think twice, it might be too much for your personal taste or that of your intended audience.

Originally Posted by sabrinabellydancer

are you sure she knew she was teaching belly dance and not belly dance themed stripping?

Absolutely sure, well, I think so, if she was teaching stripping she was doing a poor job of it. She was Turkish too, should have known better .w.:

You know what embarasses me - when I took my first bellydance class, no one told us that one sheer chiffon skirt wasn't appropriate - and I used to wear one for CLASS. You could see my Hello Kitty underwear and read the words Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty indeed! Anyway, I even wore this kind of stuff to workshops and it wasn't until I went to a new teacher that I clued in that people weren't wearing costume items to class, let alone nekkid costume items. I switched to black leggings at that point.

I also had a friend with great bellydance "fashion" who probably clued me in gently by wearing fabulous melodias and suhaila pants around me. :-)

Nowadays on sheer-ness, I have to say - I prefer double layer skirts over single layer. But I don't mind a sheer panel down the side.

Just to clarify, the original post said something about the naughty bits being covered - I am thinking about the fanny-wrap style of belt where there's no chance of an accidental crotch or cheek view. If you're wearing a skinnier belt where your undies would be visible in the back, then I think more opaque is better.

Originally Posted by danielabellydance

To me, there is a huge difference between "transparent" and "sheer." IMO, transparent means you can see directly through to the leg - so, like a skirt where you could see how tan your legs actually are.

A sheer skirt just shows the shape of the leg - but not the color (you leg is a shadowy figure the same color as the skirt).

IMO - transparent = not pretty, sheer = pretty.

"What Daniela Said".

That said, it depends on the costume. You can get away with transparent if the belt reaches a VERY long way down (more like a mid-thigh miniskirt). Then again, most things I've seen in that length were integrated skirts, (where the chiffon part is attached to the miniskirt part) rather than a separate belt and skirt.

I strongly prefer sheer to transparent, in part because transparent draws more attention to your legs, and so you see more of the mechanics of the dance than if the visual focus of your costume were on the hip area.


If it's too transparent, you could always add another skirt underneath. Two transparent skirts often add up to one sheer one. (Ditto with harems, but you mentioned that you don't want to wear those.)


One other thing: if you're going to reveal your legs (and I'd say that this goes for transparent, sheer, or slits) make sure you don't reveal too much elsewhere: cleavage, super-low belts, really bare arms/shoulders etc.

Where you draw the line depends on your body, your comfort level, your audience, your venue, your style, etc., so I won't make any generalizations, but definitely think about that when you put your costume together.

And those of us who are are, um, blessed, have to be extra careful. A style that looks fine on a B-cup will look extremely bare on me (DD), even when it's covering all the same things, so I usually don't show any part of my legs, and often need something on my arms (gauntlets, wide armbands, etc.) just to reduce the amount of bare flesh.

Originally Posted by tigerb

I don't like to watch a dancer and worry that I'm about to see something I shouldn't. If it's clear that she has something on under the skirt, I relax. If it's just the waving fringe between me and a USO (unidentified shimmying object), I can't enjoy the performance.

Multiple layered sheer skirts, which obscure more, can look great.

..l;, ..l;, ..l;, ..l;, ..l;, ..l;, ..l;, ..l;,

That is a neat look. Very Oriental-style use of assuit.

Thanks, that's what I was aiming for. I was so worried people were going to think I was trying to be tribal fusion or something. The angst, I tell ya!

I always wore very sheer skirts. During my years working in the clubs, it was practically mandatory that we showed our legs. When I first started dancing, dancers wore 2 skirts so sheerness was never an issue. But there was still plenty of leg exposure. Dancers are much more modest now then in the "heyday".

Eventually we ditched the second skirt. At the same time though everything was covered. The belts would be cut low enough to cover the important parts and I was always a fan of long fringe. On costumes that had more narrow cuts and shorter fringe, I would have the skirt made of a more opaque material but still open at the sides to show plenty of leg.

Covering up the legs was not even an option!

Some dancers wear boy shorts for coverage but I hate this look. I prefer to wear a more full coverage nude coverage panty. Control top type panties work very well as they stay in place where you need them stay. You just roll down the tops.

The other option is to have matching underwear made.

Thongs? No way. Althought that is better than wearing nothing at all which a few dancers have made the mistake of doing.

Thanks everyone:

I am going to use two skirts and attempt to cut them on opposite grains, so they look more like diagonals crossing each other. I think this might cut out some of the exposure, but show some silhouette of the legs.

My legs are my best feature, so I'd like to show them a little bit, but not too much.

Azeeza

Not longer ago i saw a dancer in sheer skirt wearing sheer pants underneath. Not harem pants but long flared chiffon pants in same fabric as the skirt. It was actually a nice look because it was obvious that everything was covered but you couldn't exactly tell how.

Souzan

Originally Posted by Souzan

Not longer ago i saw a dancer in sheer skirt wearing sheer pants underneath. Not harem pants but long flared chiffon pants in same fabric as the skirt. It was actually a nice look because it was obvious that everything was covered but you couldn't exactly tell how.

Souzan

That does sound really pretty.

I have 3 sheer skirts and I've made underskirts for two of them and bought an identical chiffon skirt for under the third. I don't like getting flashed and I certainly don't want to take the chance of flashing anyone while I'm dancing.

If a skirt is going to be sheer, I think it should *really* be sheer, make it a feature of the costume -- like Zumarrad's assuit, or some of the 'nekkid dresses' that are mostly sheer mesh with sequins or lycra covering just the 'naughty bits'.

Chiffon circle skirts that are very very sheer just make me think of cheap tourist-class costumes that were never meant for public performance. I don't mind seeing legs, but I prefer a more opaque skirt with a slit or slits, or a mini.

I think showing off your legs is great, especially if they're your best feature. I'm fine with a slit right up to your belt, or even beyond like some of the sahar's have going on! BUT - I'd rather see your bare leg through a slit than the shadow of it through a really sheer skirt. or, to be more specific - I don't want to see the silhouette of the inside of your thighs, front or back, any higher than a short streetwear skirt would cover. and, I absolutely don't want to see any booty cheek (although I'm fine with a booty cheek cutout on a lycra skirt for some reason. I guess because there is no question of the cutout opening any further, unlike a slit on a circle skirt).

be sure to check for how much you're showing when you're moving. standing still is one thing, but what happens when you're in a full spin? also be aware of any back lighting, and whether or not you're on an elevated stage.

the best photo ever of fantastic leg showage is the one on aziza's homepage: Aziza . beautiful legs, a sheer skirt covered by a mostly opaque one, so you get the feel of sheer but not the bareness

L. Rose Designs makes "performance briefs" in a variety of fabrics. It seems they're intended to wear under sheer stuff. Here's the link: L. Rose Designs - Catalog

I think that if you're going to wear something sheer, even if you have a long belt over it, it wouldn't hurt to have something tasteful and simple like these performance briefs underneath. You can even colour-coordinate!