Thread: Unpleasant designer costuming trend

Okay, I can tolerate the uber push up Dina bras, or even the mini skirt costume.

But I absolutely can't take the costumes with knee-length skirts that have begun to appear at the Bellydance store from the Cairo designers.

Yuck!!

Just to give some background info, I hate knee-length skirts in real life as well. I do not own a single one. The have held a monopoly in women's fashions for the last few years and I have adamantly refused to wear them. I will either wear skirts well below the knee or skirts above the knee, but IMO knee-length skirts are not flattering on anyone, even the 6 ft tall size 3 supermodels.

And now belly dance costumes? Just yuck. ..c::

I don't find any of the latest trends out of Cairo to be flattering or attractive. They look very cartoonish and odd.

It's funny how dumpy maternitywear is in style in the mainstream, while looking like you're ready to fall out of your bedlah is hot in BD fashion. Is BD fashion behind the curve or ahead of it? ..c::

Fashion is often cyclic, so it's probably both

Well, rumour has it cycle shorts are going to make a comeback in the northern summer, so expect so see a few of them turning up in costuming.

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

It's funny how dumpy maternitywear is in style in the mainstream,

Yuck, that's something else I refuse to wear -- I hate all those babydoll tops with ruffly sleeves. Excuse me, am I in the department for grown women or giant 3rd graders? And excuse me, I've worked my ass off *not* to look like an egg, thank you very much. Yep, I hate those too.

Less fabric..good for them, more knees seen in action...bad for us.

sometimes i get the feeling that the fashion industry is just mocking us; costume and street wear.
"let's cut the yardage and beading in half and charge the same price"
"lets make a very unflattering silhouette and tell them its chic and popular"
its almost like some designers are daring each other to make the most unflattering styles and proportions they can think of, then dare to market it and see if they can make us buy it.
who ever sells the most of the worst design wins?

Originally Posted by ssipes

Yuck, that's something else I refuse to wear -- I hate all those babydoll tops with ruffly sleeves. Excuse me, am I in the department for grown women or giant 3rd graders? And excuse me, I've worked my ass off *not* to look like an egg, thank you very much. Yep, I hate those too.

Hahahaha! ..l;,

I agree. I already have big hips and a disproportionately trimmer waist and chest, so wearing all those maternity-like, ruffly bags makes me look fatter, curveless, and pregnant! And skinny jeans? Ugh! Don't even get me started on skinny jeans (maybe they look good on some of you, but all the people I know who are wearing them should NOT be)!

Oh and back to the topic...

I really don't like a lot of the new dance fashions either. They all have the same bra shape (that doesn't work for me without extreme alteration), same skimpy lycra skirts (maybe make it a mermaid or fishtail or something that will show off our turns and hide our knee movements designers?), and really odd beading patterns in really odd places. I've been finding myself thinking, "Hey! I could make that $700 costume for $50 in materials and it would probably only take a couple weekends! What a gyp!"

Not cycle shorts...in lycra...Oh please no! [Runs away to hide in dark corner.]

Originally Posted by zumarrad

Well, rumour has it cycle shorts are going to make a comeback in the northern summer, so expect so see a few of them turning up in costuming.

OMG Visions of a whale tail above the lycra bike shorts.

Will look like 2 pigs fighting under a blanket.

Originally Posted by anala

Less fabric..good for them, more knees seen in action...bad for us.

Yes... And less fabric should also mean "less expensive" ..l;, ... But they're not...

I don't like the short skirts at all. I prefer not to see the pumping knees behind a shimmy.

Another thing that I am not partial to is the large cutouts. I liked this costume until I saw the side view. .w.:


Belly Dance Costumes | Belly Dance Store.com: gallery

Originally Posted by etoile

I don't like the short skirts at all. I prefer not to see the pumping knees behind a shimmy.

Another thing that I am not partial to is the large cutouts. I liked this costume until I saw the side view. .w.:


Belly Dance Costumes | Belly Dance Store.com: gallery

I thought the same thing about that purple when I saw it.

I don't like Dina bras and I don't like short skirts, mini or knee length. I do, however, like the trend of using prints instead of solids for fabric. I think that is an interesting diversion from the solid mono color costumes we're used to seeing.

Are we sure they are designed to be 'knee length'? The models at bellydancestore are fairly short so maybe the costumes are all designed (as usual) for amazons and supposed to be above the knee.

I think we went through a "gilded age" of costume design and craftsmanship that has slowly been eroding over the last decade or so. Costuming can be a cash cow, so the less work you can do for the most money, the better for your business, especially if you can trick dancers into thinking that two yards of Lycra with a couple of acrylic stones hot glued onto it is equivalent to a vintage Abla with hours of elaborate beading and a detailed design that required substantial skill to plan out.

Demand for costumes has been going up as the number of dancers in the world has increased, and until the recent economic woes started, there were a lot of hobbyists and low-level pros in the market who had plenty of disposable income to throw around on costumes. Maybe fifteen years ago, you didn't see a dancer in a couture costume unless she was serious enough to go there and buy one herself, but thanks to the Internet, Suzy Six-Week can show up at the local halfa in a designer outfit if she's got the scratch. Besides, it's partially our own fault. As shopping overseas without going overseas became easier, we sort of abandoned the art of making our own costumes and decided that it was kind of tacky to wear something homemade. Making your own clothes isn't as cheap or easy as you'd think it ought to be, but who wants to put that kind of time and effort into a costume, only to be snobbed at in a dressing room before a show--particularly if you can spend the same amount of money for something you don't have to cop to making yourself if the end result isn't the most exquisitely made garment in the world?

It's not surprising that a wave of new designers thought, "I could get in on this racket," and barged into the business with a bunch of half-baked ideas. Sometimes I look at those costumes and think, "Are you serious, or are you making fun of the fact that you think we're a bunch of crazy women who are only slightly better than prostitutes, and therefore we will wear any nutty, semi-naked thing you throw together, especially if you slap a big price tag on it?" Personally, I'd like to see what Lebanese designer Basil Soda would do if given a mission to design dance costumes. He's obviously set his aim on haute couture, and probably wouldn't be interested, but I think he uses very feminine, classical lines, often with elaborate beadwork--and who wouldn't like to see a little of that old-school, Samia Gamal, "I look like a princess!" glamour come back in style?

Originally Posted by gloworm25

OMG Visions of a whale tail above the lycra bike shorts.

Will look like 2 pigs fighting under a blanket.

BAHAHAHAHHAHAHA Oh I'll have to tell my girls that one!

I like costumes to provide a bit of mystery, It's hard to make a shimmy look easy when everyone can see you working it! I must admit though that it drives me nuts when I see someone with a long skirt but their ankles are showing!!!! ARRRGGGHHHHH lol must be the costumier in me!

I am not even going to get in on this one!
Mouth is shut. Mouth is shut.

I love the short skirt dresses - Yes I am probably the only one! Maybe because I love my legs. Oh well to each there own. : )

well, while i do see alot at the bellydancestore, my GUESS is either a. this is what they're wearing in Cairo (which may not be a surprise...i remember seeing a 'wish fulfillment' show where they sent a NY dance hobbyist to egypt, and they were in one of the clubs, and the pro they featured with a live band was in what looked like a club dress with matching heals, it was knee length with ruffles, NOT a leff.....)

or b., possibly for shaabi, they may be edgy enuf for that.......when the new stuff comes out, it's hard to know if it's something new they're trying or if it's a Cairo trend

i personally think they're cute, and flattering....for my shape the A-line ones work, unfortunately the length doesn't cuz my calves are HUGE!

Originally Posted by zumarrad

Well, rumour has it cycle shorts are going to make a comeback in the northern summer, so expect so see a few of them turning up in costuming.

Not on me, they won't. But then I think they are used mostly for Meya Lef dances, or at least that is the only way I have seen them used. And also for some very, very modern Sha'abi, which is not at the top of my list either. Okay for others to do it and they do it well, and they are fun to watch, but not what I particularly like to do for myself personally.

Originally Posted by sabrinabellydancer

sometimes i get the feeling that the fashion industry is just mocking us; costume and street wear.
"let's cut the yardage and beading in half and charge the same price"
"lets make a very unflattering silhouette and tell them its chic and popular"
its almost like some designers are daring each other to make the most unflattering styles and proportions they can think of, then dare to market it and see if they can make us buy it.
who ever sells the most of the worst design wins?

OMG, I wholeheartedly believe this. What else could possibly explain all of those "exploding furball" customes we were seeing on BDStore for awhile?

Some of the latest designs make zero sense from a visual and conceptual standpoint. IMO, floating bras create such a bizarre line on the body - all these blocky shapes and these weird starts and stops where the human eye expects to see graceful continuity. And they're always paired with these skirts that throw the whole look off balance.

I'm seeing a lot of design motifs that start on the top and aren't completed on the bottom, or vice versa. Nippletassels and other "airport special" motifs passed off as couture. And those knee-length skirts look like somebody started to design a full-length skirt and got tired of beading it midway through and said "I'll just cut the bottom half off. Nobody will ever know!" It's just bizarre design juju, IMO.

This is a perfect example of an unfinished design motif that would look 1,000x better and more complete if it were carried through to the skirt:

Belly Dance Costumes | Belly Dance Store.com: gallery


It's always great fun to send a non-dancer friend, spouse or SO to BDStore and ask them for their input on the latest design trainwrecks from Cairo ..l;,

Maybe on a taller person they would hit above the knees?

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

OMG, I wholeheartedly believe this. What else could possibly explain all of those "exploding furball" customes we were seeing on BDStore for awhile?

Some of the latest designs make zero sense from a visual and conceptual standpoint. IMO, floating bras create such a bizarre line on the body - all these blocky shapes and these weird starts and stops where the human eye expects to see graceful continuity. And they're always paired with these skirts that throw the whole look off balance.

I'm seeing a lot of design motifs that start on the top and aren't completed on the bottom, or vice versa. Nippletassels and other "airport special" motifs passed off as couture. And those knee-length skirts look like somebody started to design a full-length skirt and got tired of beading it midway through and said "I'll just cut the bottom half off. Nobody will ever know!" It's just bizarre design juju, IMO.

This is a perfect example of an unfinished design motif that would look 1,000x better and more complete if it were carried through to the skirt:

Belly Dance Costumes | Belly Dance Store.com: gallery


It's always great fun to send a non-dancer friend, spouse or SO to BDStore and ask them for their input on the latest design trainwrecks from Cairo ..l;,

Totally looks like a high school home econmics project. lol

duplicate

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

This is a perfect example of an unfinished design motif that would look 1,000x better and more complete if it were carried through to the skirt:

Belly Dance Costumes | Belly Dance Store.com: gallery

That poor girl looks like my christmas tree if I'm really in a hurry that year.

regarding the 'floating bras' they're not for everyone.....they're ok on me as long as i have good coverage, cuz of my frame...i PREFER the NON-floating Dina-cups that raqia and eman have been doing cuz they're comfy and don't need much, if any, padding. AND the proper fluffage of the girls, not too much, just right :p

i really like the mini's that have been coming out, and my legs can pull it off, but both out of a mentor's suggestion, AND concern for 'age-appropriateness', i haven't invested in any (tho i really, really liked and coveted samira's mesh eman mini in a big way...it still haunts me.....anyone out there have it? :p)

i think it's a matter of styles working with someone's personal style and physique....they DON'T work on everyone :p

fads come and go...circle skirts are forever, lol.

I don't know if this is still a trend right now, but I absolutely hate those skirts that have "straps" that come from the front and go up above the hip bones before coming back down on the back. You know, the ones that (at least from far away) make it look like you're wearing a thong with sparkly strings and you pulled them up above your skirt to show that off?

Sometimes I think belly dancers are so immersed into their own belly dance culture and costume fashion that they forget how things like this appear to someone who doesn't know anything about belly dance and belly dance costumes.