Thread: need inspiration--pics of costumes with pants/harems?

so I'm FINALLY getting back to work on my Princess Jasmine costume. I'm working on the pants, and they just aren't poofy enough. I'm looking for inspiration pictures, specifically of costumes with pants or harems....anything that has a side slit (either bare or with fabric) would be a bonus. I would love your help in finding pics of costumes that fit this description. Thanks!

Sounds cheeseball, but you might want to refer to vintage dance galleries for harem-inspired pinups of Bettie Page and Lili St. Cyr. A lot of those costumes had very simplistic ornamentation, and (obviously) were not made to be danced in - but I think you might get valuable inspiration from the cool campy retro styling, alone.

I'll post pics as soon as I find them!

I don't have a link for you, but it seems to me that a lot of the russian costume designers use pants. I like the ones that gather below the knee as well as at the ankle - it's a cool line.

Theres was a STUNNING costume on Sandras website but since she has changed it its not there any more :( It reminded me exactly of princess Jasmine! The Harem pants were this gorgeous Blue colour and poofy-it was GORGEOUS! Maybe contact her and see if she would mind sending you a photo:)

See http://www.atirasfashions.com/images/NO15B.GIF for a couple of ideas. These appear on the Atira's Fashions web site - ie, the web site that sells the pattern to make these.

Okay, I can't resist:



Admittedly, this photo might be enough to send you screaming into the night....

Shira....I can't decide if that pants or the pose are worse!!!! oooooh dear...

thanks for the suggestions so far...I LOVE pinup/vintage, so I think I'm going to try out those sources first, and then head the Sandra/Russian designer route (though that might be dangerously drool inducing....such beautiful things). I went downtown today and found my secondary sheer fabric, so I'm really getting pumped up to start this up again at full bore.

Originally Posted by monsoondancer

Theres was a STUNNING costume on Sandras website but since she has changed it its not there any more :( It reminded me exactly of princess Jasmine! The Harem pants were this gorgeous Blue colour and poofy-it was GORGEOUS! Maybe contact her and see if she would mind sending you a photo:)

I think you're talking about this one:

La Belle Orientale - tribe.net

I found it on her tribe, it's super beautiful!!! I would so love to have a costume like this!!

oooh - I love those pants.
May have to make myself a pair - the design is pretty simple.

Originally Posted by mathkitty

I think you're talking about this one:

La Belle Orientale - tribe.net

I found it on her tribe, it's super beautiful!!! I would so love to have a costume like this!!

Yeah!! Thats the one-absolutley GORGEOUS!!!! Anyone know who made this for her? I soooooo want one!

Originally Posted by monsoondancer

Yeah!! Thats the one-absolutley GORGEOUS!!!! Anyone know who made this for her? I soooooo want one!

I think she used to make a lot of her own costumes, a long time ago, she used to have tips for creating your own costumes on her website, so it's possible it's a Sandra original.

Originally Posted by elisagamal

I don't have a link for you, but it seems to me that a lot of the russian costume designers use pants. I like the ones that gather below the knee as well as at the ankle - it's a cool line.

Agreed on the line with the gathers at the knee...

One other suggestion...a double layer...say a darker color satin under a sheer bright chiffon...I've seen it with skirts...could work for the princess pantaloon look, but dress it up a bit...

Originally Posted by *Shira*

Okay, I can't resist:



Admittedly, this photo might be enough to send you screaming into the night....

I had thought I had seen a lot...

I don't know how these are made, but I love them.

Originally Posted by najla86

Shira....I can't decide if that pants or the pose are worse!!!! oooooh dear...

Najla, I think the pants are fine. It's the horrid pose, the stupid face veil, the tacky cheap belt, and the big belly hanging out that make it a scary picture!

Before anybody gets upset with me for picking on that poor dancer and wondering when she'll come on bhuz to defend herself, that dancer was me somewhere around 1998 or 1999. This picture is from a Rakkasah performance by a comedy troupe I used to be in, The Veiled Threats. So the costume and pose and feather boa and wig and all WERE intended for comedic effect. But it's probably the ugliest picture of me in my collection! In fact, back when bhuz still had an Ugly Belly Dance Costumes thread, I posted this picture on it.

Anyway, the harem pants are made of charmeuse, and drape beautifully, and actually look attractive when worn with something else. Especially if the choreography doesn't involve a squat...

These are pretty simple pants. The only difference from normal harems is that they have a yoke on top with all the leg fabric gathered into them so they don't add to your hips. And they are slit up to the yoke.

Originally Posted by najla86

so I'm FINALLY getting back to work on my Princess Jasmine costume. I'm working on the pants, and they just aren't poofy enough. I'm looking for inspiration pictures, specifically of costumes with pants or harems....anything that has a side slit (either bare or with fabric) would be a bonus. I would love your help in finding pics of costumes that fit this description. Thanks!

Ok this is me from the Ren Fest this summer. Now, this was from our "Mardi Gras" weekend so the costume is a little.... well, you know. And this was also a slight act of "sticking it to the man" because the managment spent the whole run telling us to be more "Disneyland" and "be like Disney bellydancers" so I whipped up this costume to shut them up.

But I actually do like the harems (the only thing I don't like about them is that when dancing in crowds they have gotten stuck on benches, people, canes, etc and have actually ripped off. That was pretty awful.

Originally Posted by _Sarai_

But I actually do like the harems (the only thing I don't like about them is that when dancing in crowds they have gotten stuck on benches, people, canes, etc and have actually ripped off. That was pretty awful.

OH! .w.: that's going to be my nightmare tonight. I can add that to the recurring bd nightmare of bits of my costume missing and my music changing all the time....I've had this one about a dozen times....

and Shira, the power of context ..g.: and you're right, the pants aren't bad when normal, but with the squat....MC Hammer meets ......ay yi yi

thanks for all the beautiful examples....I have a lot more to consider than I started with (my costume inspiration folder was all skirts before!) I may need to buy more fabric now....enablers!! ..l;,

There are a lot of styles for harempants:
- varying from slender to extremely full
- slits on the front, or the sides
- gathered at the knee or not

If you make them very full, I would suggest chiffon, otherwise you will have a ton of fabric on your lower body making you look like a balloon. Even if you are very thin, that can be too much. If you make the pants less full, then you have to think about how see through it will be, so you might want to consider any fabric, that is not see through, thin and flows nicely.

If you put slits on the sides, I think it's best to do it when you are completely done wih the pants, put them on, and then either carefully take apart the seam or cut it (depending on if the seam is on the inside of the legs or outside.
Once I made harempants for a male dancer (my friend) and learned this th the hard way). You might cut too big of a slit on the sides, (or not big enough) so do it when it's on.

But my favorite pants are the ones I came up with. On top, they're like a boy short, made of lycra or stretch velvet and then the legs are attached. 2 layer chiffon. This style actually flares out at the bottom, but I could make it where the bottom is gathered around the ankle, and then the top layer flares out, a little shorter. (new isnpiration for me :).
I suppose I could do both layers gather at the ankle and put a slit at the sides, that would be pretty.
These pants are just so comfortable, and the top part is covered by the belt and fringe anyways.

let me see if I can post some pictures to show: These look like a skirt, really

Originally Posted by Marianna

When I first started dancing I was in love with the traditional, very baggy harempants (used to take almost 2 yards of fabric) but I realized it made me look really big)

Oh man. The ones I make take three yards!

I hope I'm not looking bottom heavy and not even realizing it...

ouch! sorry for the huge pictures and the crazy pose.
How can you make the pictures smaller in the posts?

Sarai... the ones I amde tose days were of satin - already very heavy farbric.
If you make it out of something thinner (even thinner satin, there are all kinds of them) I'm sure 3 yeards look very nice on you.

Those pants are awesome Marianna!

Another idea for slits in harem pants (on the outside of the leg): you can fasten the slit back together around the knee -- for modesty (do I remember you're making this costume for kid's parties?). You can attach a brooch or small applique, even with a little beaded fringette...I would echo the caveat about the length of the slit...and I think the slit looks better in a really soft fabric and a less-full pant. My 2-cents :)

Here is a video of a beautiful costume:[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwQjiSdaYJY]YouTube - Naima Akef Egyptian BellyDancer[/ame] (sorry if the link doesn't go thru--oh it worked!!:).

ooooh, soooo much pretty! as much as I really like the examples of the super poufy and full pants, I think I may be a bit too tall for that look (5'10"). After deliberation, I'm going to go for a modified slit....since I am keeping this in mind for little kid's theme parties, I want a slightly more modest look, so I'm going to do the joined at the knee slit and fill in parts with a sheer fabric I have, and then if I get really tricky, make an option for opening/closing the slit via some sort of fancy jewel. I'm hoping to do a lot of accessories for this costume, so I may create a skirt option at sometime too (someone had suggested a sheer over-skirt a la one of the Princess Jasmine dolls available)

on another note, all these ideas you've given me have now inspired thoughts for even MORE costumes!! haha

Have you thought of endless wave harem pants ? people like them a lot !
Here are two pics of me with them :

These are gorgeous Marianna, did you make them from a pattern?

Originally Posted by Marianna

There are a lot of styles for harempants:
- varying from slender to extremely full
- slits on the front, or the sides
- gathered at the knee or not

If you make them very full, I would suggest chiffon, otherwise you will have a ton of fabric on your lower body making you look like a balloon. Even if you are very thin, that can be too much. If you make the pants less full, then you have to think about how see through it will be, so you might want to consider any fabric, that is not see through, thin and flows nicely.

If you put slits on the sides, I think it's best to do it when you are completely done wih the pants, put them on, and then either carefully take apart the seam or cut it (depending on if the seam is on the inside of the legs or outside.
Once I made harempants for a male dancer (my friend) and learned this th the hard way). You might cut too big of a slit on the sides, (or not big enough) so do it when it's on.

But my favorite pants are the ones I came up with. On top, they're like a boy short, made of lycra or stretch velvet and then the legs are attached. 2 layer chiffon. This style actually flares out at the bottom, but I could make it where the bottom is gathered around the ankle, and then the top layer flares out, a little shorter. (new isnpiration for me :).
I suppose I could do both layers gather at the ankle and put a slit at the sides, that would be pretty.
These pants are just so comfortable, and the top part is covered by the belt and fringe anyways.

let me see if I can post some pictures to show: These look like a skirt, really

Duh! Sorry didn't read your post right and I now see you designed them yourself, they are really cleverly made and look great!

I've always loved harem pants, but always thought I was too short and my bum was too round for them.
Marianna , Those are fabulous - I think even I could pull off that look. How did you finish the hem? Is it wired or just a lettus edge?