Thread: Dancer inspiration for costumes

Whose costumes do you find inspiration in when you're looking to make something and are stumped? I'm not talking about full out copying but true inspiration of originality.

I've been meaning to make something for awhile, but I haven't felt like I know what. I'm open to Oriental, tribal, tribal fusion, whatever is well-made.

I always liked Soraya Zayed's costumes.

But she might have been the only dancer who inspired my costume-making. I mostly took inspiration from things outside the belly dance world.

If I were making a costume, my inspiration would come from pics and YouTube footage of the golden age dancers. I love that vintage styling!

I lust after Taheya Karioka's costumes, they always looked so rich, with lots of beautiful textures; always wish I could have seen them in color. She wore this one amazing skirt that had long, (maybe 10 inches?) horizontal rows of fringe down the skirt, if they were glass beads it must have weighed a ton, I ache for that skirt...and am too poor and impatient to attempt to fabricate one like it...

i usually have an idea of something i want and then google image different key words for inspiration to fill in the blanks (for example im making a pink outfit that was inspired by a flower we had in the summer, i googled cherry blossom paintings and kimono to get ideas for the bra and belt)
i love Sandra's bellas, but any ideas from there i have to radically change to fit my personality, i just couldn't pull off those designs, as fabulous as they look on her.

I'm a big fan of Sandra's Bellas (I'm not sure who isn't!), but I don't think they work for my personality or patience in costume making.

I take a bit of inspiration from the old vintage/golden age costumes too, Legends (for beading ideas), Mamdouh Salama (for fabric arrangement ideas), and Bella (for beading ideas).