Thread: what costumes flatter dancers with narrow hips?

i'm one of the narrow hipped females here, and looking at my last performance i noticed that my movements weren't as defined as i liked. i can blame this either on my technique or my costume or both. i'm going with both. my costume was a sim that is slightly big on me...ie the butt wasn't fitted like i'd like it to be.

is it better for petite/narrow hipped dancers to wear form fitting costumes (especially around the butt) or does more fringe make more of a difference?

I'm not petite and I'm not thin, but I am narrow hipped and lacking in curves. Most of my dancing is ATS with skirt tucking, but for other stuff I tend to thing belts that are straight across the hip are the most flattering. Also, I wear mermaid skirts more than circle skirts because the mermaid (or trumpet) tapers in at the knees and then flares out over the calves. This creates a curvy silhouette. The same applies with Melodia pants.

Girlfriend, don't try to fake curves. Embrace what you've got!

My torso is pretty much the antithesis of a "bellydancerish" hourglass figure - in fact, I'm shaped like a skinny hot dog. I've tried tucking scarves and veils into my skirts, but this just calls too much attention to the curves that are not there!

I say it's best to wear the slimmest, slinkiest skirts you can find. High slits and cutouts are a nice way to show off the line of the leg and create that sexy, snake-y look. Mermaid and straight skirts are awesome.

You could always wear those "tranny pads" (aka padded underwear).

A lot of your choices will depend on your overall proportions and shape, not just the narrowness of your hips. I am an inverted triangle shape with wide shoulders, big boobs and taper down from there. Long legs, small butt, and narrow hips. There is very little definition between my waist and hips and my upper hip and lower hip measure exactly the same. I wear size M yoga pants, 12 misses slacks, and 16-18 tops if that gives you a better picture. If my waist was narrower I would be in size 10 pants.

For me tight and slinkly makes me look more like an upside down triangle and makes my shoulders look even broader. Like Allyis Luma I look better with a lot of stuff around my hips, heavy fringe at the hips, and trumpet skirts. It visually balances out the width of my upper body.

I also wear hip and butt padding while in costume. Helps make my hips a little more obvious and its somthing to hang a belt or hip scarf on.

Other suggestions, go for asymmetry, diagonal lines that move the eye down the body. The Hannan dresses and two piece lycra creations with drapes at the hip are really nice for narrow hips.

Keep in mind that if you are very petite, like Satin, you can't wear a bunch of heavy stuff and extra drapes, etc without looking overwhelmed. But if you are taller, medium to large boned you can embrace a more embellished look.

Although I am not a tribal or tribal fusion dancer, I really look great in tribal skirts with all kinds of stuff tucked in and draped here and there. I am tall--just under 5'8".

Hope this gives you some ideas.

hmmm well i have curves, but my waist to hip proportion doesnt differ too much. so i feel like my hips get lost in my waist. i also have a really long torso. i'm def not as petite as satin, but i'm just overall a narrow, slim person lol. i dont know if that makes sense...

You might also want to focus on making your moves more deliberate and juicy. I like to milk all the gooey goodness out of every one of my movements, all while visualizing myself with a big ol' J.Lo booty. I swear, that visualization works! ..g.:..l;,

loll i need to start doing that. i tend to rush around like a hummingbird.

here's a good view of how my body is. but i do have a booty, which is a plus (not shown in this picture)

i realized i look like im making love to the air here. oops haha

You look adorable! What's the prob! :-) Just more fringey action would look awesome on you, embrace your nice slim look.

Sahra Saeeda told us that when she was in Cairo, they told her she was TOO skinny, so they made sure she had lots of moves that overlapped her feet, flexed her knees and pushed her hips out to one side or another (ala betty boop) I agree with Satin on this topic.

Originally Posted by LiesaB.

You look adorable! What's the prob! :-) Just more fringey action would look awesome on you, embrace your nice slim look.

thanks! i just ordered a fringe-less straight skirt/fitted costume from eman. i guess that's the opposite of what i need lol

I am envious of that long torso! The nice thing is that you have a nice smooth line and it looks l like you are nicely proportioned slender person. You can always add a little fringe to the Eman skirt. I have an Eman dress that has no fringe or embellishment at the hips but also came with a draped detachable belt. Looks great on some peopel without the belt but I need to use it to balance out my proportions.

Originally Posted by salsabelly

Sahra Saeeda told us that when she was in Cairo, they told her she was TOO skinny, so they made sure she had lots of moves that overlapped her feet, flexed her knees and pushed her hips out to one side or another (ala betty boop) I agree with Satin on this topic.

If you look at pictures of Sahra from that era she also wore those Abla fringe monsters that helped in the hip dept. too!

Originally Posted by Souzan

I am envious of that long torso! The nice thing is that you have a nice smooth line and it looks l like you are nicely proportioned slender person. You can always add a little fringe to the Eman skirt. I have an Eman dress that has no fringe or embellishment at the hips but also came with a draped detachable belt. Looks great on some peopel without the belt but I need to use it to balance out my proportions.

thanks souzan! it's really hard shopping for tops. i was pretty happy when longer tops came in style lol.

i'll see how the eman looks on me. there is a lot of draping wrapped around the butt/hips of the skirt. if all else fails i can see it and get a fringe monster :)

Originally Posted by shaabichic

i'll see how the eman looks on me. there is a lot of draping wrapped around the butt/hips of the skirt. if all else fails i can see it and get a fringe monster :)

Fringemonsters on slim dancers may or may not be counterproductive! Try it and see how it works on you.

I had to remove 2-3 rows of fringe from my vintage cossie to avoid looking like the costume was wearing me. My favorite designs are Bellas and Legends because they have nice dense clumps and rows of flattering mini-fringe, sometimes with little tassels scattered throughout the skirts. They give me my fringe fix to assist with my movement, without overwhelming my bod!

ah yes i know what u mean satin. i guess i want a middle of the road fringe monster lol. i think lots of short fringe is good at accenting the hips. im very tempted to custom order something from bella like that, but i'll need to sell my sim first. hehehe

I'm top heavy (in a few ways...) and lack much in the hip area. I've found the best thing is a horizontal line across the waist, like with wearing horizontal stripes it makes you appear wider in that area. Also, adding **** at the sides of your hips (like fringe, scarves, tucked in skirts) will add horizontal volume. I've found that mermaid skirts don't work because they REALLY show that I don't have any hips. Sure it curves in below the waist, but in comparison to the width of my abs and chest, it doesn't do anything.

Emphasize other body parts to make the waist look smaller (thereby making the hips look fuller): shoulders, chest, neck, hair.

Also, A-line skirts (fitted at the hip and then gradual flare) in addition to emphasis on upper body pulls the eyes up and down, removing attention from the hips.

Dance to the fullest extent of the range of motion. In photo shoots, exaggerate shifting the hips opposite the rib cage and take more 3/4 angle shots, rather than straight on.

I am the size of a 10-year old boy with water balloons. I have bum, but no fullness in the hips, so I never gave people a reason to look at my hips, except when I could manipulate them visually so that their narrowness was downplayed or not noticeable.

You and I seem to have a similar body type (although my shoulders are a little bigger and my torso is not quite as long). I have a hard time with my narrow hips as well. This is what I've found that really does make a difference, even though it isn't what's popular right now. (Personally, I would rather have a costume that looks good and flatters my body than have the latest Raqia Hassan coconut-boob bra with liquid metal spandex skirt that makes you look like Daryl Hannah in Splash.)

The Turkish-style bra and belt set with the V-shaped belt and huge circle skirts really do make all the difference. Make the belt extra tight and/or make a "muffin-topper" (I'll explain in a second) to make it look like you have more to shake. Wear two skirts (make sure that the top one at least has side splits) and pull up the bottom skirt through the side splits of the top skirt and tuck it into each side of your belt.

To make the "muffin-topper", take a wide band (about 1 1/2" wide) of underwear elastic stretched as tight as humanly possible around your hips and sew in a huge snap (the ones that are about an inch in diameter). Once you have it on, pull some muffin top up over the edges. I initially made this contraption to stabilize a particularly heavily beaded skirt that kept slipping off my butt so I could pin the skirt to the band, and I noticed that it gave me some muffin toppage that made my shimmies look bigger. You can also achieve the same effect by threading a wide grosgrain ribbon into a casing made of wide bias tape and tying it tightly around your hips.

Also, heavily pad your bras to push the girls up underneath your neck, which will give you an overall hourglass shape. I find that the push-up pads that you can get in the fabric store are perfect. Halter-style tops give you a curvier look and have the added bonus of not slipping off your shoulders during your performance.

Colors can make a difference, too. Dark colors are slimming, so you may want to go with lighter colors for that extra booty boost. Just make sure it flatters your skin, though....once I saw this performance in which the woman had a beautiful costume that was just all wrong for her skin tone and looked so terrible on her it was distracting. I don't remember her dancing at all, just how terrible she looked in that shade of bright pink.

Skinny girls do have to work extra hard in this dance. Hey, we can't all be Soheir Zaki. I'm currently experimenting with padding the hips of my costumes, so I'll see how it goes over and share with the class.

Originally Posted by _Nani_

Skinny girls do have to work extra hard in this dance. Hey, we can't all be Soheir Zaki. I'm currently experimenting with padding the hips of my costumes, so I'll see how it goes over and share with the class.

Meh. I don't think we have to work that much harder. We just have to figure out which moves suit us best and how to milk the most out of them - but dancers of all body types should do that, anyway!

Oh, and PS - I am intrigued by this muffin topper device. Do you have any photos of it?

Japanese dancers I dance with tend to work on their hip range so they can really extend more through the hip movements. When you drill, try to see how far you can really push and pull your hips, that will help with some of the visuals.

That skirt you're wearing in the picture? I feel the need to tell you that you need a second skirt under it. It's too shear. Also, if we see less of your legs through the chiffon we'll be able to focus more on your torso on up.

My slim-hipped buddy, Farasha
ƒxƒŠ�[ƒ_ƒ“ƒX ƒtƒ@ƒ‰�[ƒVƒƒ - Farasha Official Website

And Sali;
sali weblog

Here is the muffin-topper of which I speak. The pics aren't great, but I just took them of myself. It doesn't look like it makes an enormous difference in the picture, but it's good for adding a quick visual 5 pounds or so before a performance to up the jiggle:


No muffin-topper


With muffin-topper


I pulled down the skirt a little so you can see the muffin-topper itself.

Originally Posted by ozma

Japanese dancers I dance with tend to work on their hip range so they can really extend more through the hip movements. When you drill, try to see how far you can really push and pull your hips, that will help with some of the visuals.

That skirt you're wearing in the picture? I feel the need to tell you that you need a second skirt under it. It's too shear. Also, if we see less of your legs through the chiffon we'll be able to focus more on your torso on up.

My slim-hipped buddy, Farasha
ƒxƒŠ�[ƒ_ƒ“ƒX ƒtƒ@ƒ‰�[ƒVƒƒ - Farasha Official Website

And Sali;
sali weblog

yeah it was too sheer...i actually borrowed that costume that day from a friend at the last minute. i try to hide my chicken legs as much as possible :)

Okay so I would not say that I exactly have narrow hips...BUT...I do not have much of a visual difference in my waist to hip proportion. I kind of look straight. And I am fairly petite. I'm only 5'2". I find for me Emans and Sahars that have the butt hugging then drapey factor work really well. Pouffy skirts do NOTHING for me, and bedlahs sometimes look akward-although that may be that I have never found a great fitting bra/belt set. And shameless plug: I'm selling a GORGEOUS nude and red lace Eman on the swap meet board.

Originally Posted by shaabichic

thanks souzan! it's really hard shopping for tops. i was pretty happy when longer tops came in style lol.

i'll see how the eman looks on me. there is a lot of draping wrapped around the butt/hips of the skirt. if all else fails i can see it and get a fringe monster :)

posture and hips alittle behind you. and costumes aslong and it fits and you feel confidant and comfortable. i like the samia style.

Shaabi, I think the costume you are wearing here shows your hips! Yeah girl, you got hips here!

i think it mostly boils down to muscle control and memory, but there are visual things you can do to help. i'm really tiny (5'0" and 95lbs!) and when i feel like my hips aren't accentuated enough, i wear circle skirts and tuck the sides up into my belt. the fabric pouffs out away from the body. i guess you could say that's more of a gypsy style, so if you're not into that, i would say make/find a belt with tons of fringe at the hips. the fringe will bounce around, elongate movement, and help draw more attention to the hips. i buy skeins of cheap wool yarn off ebay for my fringe. i hope this helps!

Originally Posted by Fotia

Shaabi, I think the costume you are wearing here shows your hips! Yeah girl, you got hips here!

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Shaabi and I are built a lot alike. Just because you aren't built like Sadie or Soheir Zaki doesn't mean you don't have curves. It just means you have small, cute curves

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Shaabi and I are built a lot alike. Just because you aren't built like Sadie or Soheir Zaki doesn't mean you don't have curves. It just means you have small, cute curves

And who set the bar on what the definition of hips are anyway? But that would be for another thread. I think like Satin said in that the costume is wearing you, that would be distracting. I say celebrate whatever your size is; it's how you move that shows what you've got more than body shape. In fact, I wouldn't mind it if my hips were a little smaller too, but I work with what I've got and what just looks good on me.