Thread: Ordering my first student costumes...advice, please?

I've been dancing about a year now and my teacher has invited my beginner class to perform in the many outdoorsy/festival-y spring events her classes do around town. She has indicated that a bedlah/professional costume is unnecessary at this point, so think I'd like to pick up a couple of the $100 L. Rose student offers to match my two hip scarves, and dress them up with a bit of basic coin jewelry from Moondance or something. Here's a picture of the hip scarves for reference:


One caveat is that I need a "greenish" costume for one of our performances, so since the yellow hip scarf has green paillettes, I was planning to focus on "going green" to match that one. Another caveat is that I like being colorful. My dream costume is one like Alimah's on the cover of her Meaning in Movement DVD, a rainbow!

Anyway, here are my plans for each hip scarf, please feel free to offer your suggestions for improvement! Questions I need your input on are indicated in red like this.

For the yellow hip scarf:
- Green Tye Dye velvet half top

- Bright "emerald" green skirt to match green paillettes in hip scarf. It looks like the emerald color isn't currently available in the chiffon or the satin. If I could pay more to get the emerald silk, would I like having a silk skirt?
- Harem pants in silk. Yellow, perhaps, for contrast/balance or would green to match the skirt be better?
- What color veil would look best? I could get something totally different like turquoise or light pink or orange since I have those colors in the hip scarf, or get green or yellow to match the rest of the costume.

For the fuchsia/magenta hip scarf:
- Bollywood Tye Dye velvet top

- Orange chiffon skirt or should I do light pink?
- Silk harem pants. Can't decide which would look best: orange, yellow, or light pink. Will the color of the harems pants show through the chiffon fabric that much?
- Veil. Again, do I choose a contrasting color or a matchy-matchy one?

In advance, let me say that I really appreciate all your advice/suggestions! I know these aren't the most glamorous costume choices around, but I think they will work well for me in the stage I am in. I'm excited to get them!

How picky is your teacher about having her dancers conform to a specific look? If your teacher is particular, then any answers here will be meaningless, unless you are buying for your own personal taste. Has she approved your hip scarves? If everybody else is wearing older styles (coins or beaded/looped fringe), then paillettes may stand out more than she wants.

How green is "greenish"? Does she want people in mix-and-match shades from lime to forest? Does she want solid colors?

Originally Posted by Alexa

Another caveat is that I like being colorful.

The point of group work is to work as a group. What you like may be secondary to the larger aesthetic. Of course, each troupe sets its own standard for how much nonconformity they can tolerate. Even if the rules for your troupe are very relaxed, if this is your first time performing, would you rather stand out or blend in?

[More...]

What kind of top does she want? Cropped shirt? Decorated dance bra? U-top with exposed bra? Does your teacher want harem pants or bare legs? A narrow silhouette or a full one? Are performers supposed to have veils that match their skirts or contrast?

Yellow, perhaps, for contrast/balance or would green to match the skirt be better?

The more yellow you go, the less green your overall look will be.

Will the color of the harems pants show through the chiffon fabric that much?

Unless it is an unusually full or multi-layer skirt, chiffon will be fairly transparent.

Some troupes genuinely don't invest a lot of time in the details of what their members wear. If that is the case, then pick what you like. (Keep in mind that it can be very difficult to match colors online. Things that look like they will go together on your monitor may clash in person.)

What seems to be more common is that the director will specify a costume and a few people will go off and do whatever they want anyway, and folks will grudgingly put up with it. If you are embarking on a performing career with other dancers you may be with for a while, it is worth your time to find out what they think, not what strangers online think. It doesn't matter what we decide, if our recommendations are going to cause resentment between the others in your troupe or make you feel like you're sticking out more than you wanted.

Finally, unless you know your troupe wears a lot of tie-dye as a signature look, I wouldn't personally recommend buying it when first building a costume wardrobe. With the exception of designer costumes that intentionally use tie-dye fabric as a design element, tie-dyed pieces tend to have a funky, informal quality that can limit their use as you grow as a dancer. If you buy solid-colored, especially jewel-toned, costume pieces, you will have more leverage for creating elegant looks when you jump up to the next tier of starter bra-and-belt sets. Tie-dye just doesn't usually look as dressy.

agree with everything Tourbeau said (except that I love the tie dye look from L Rose and think they look way classy...)

would also add that L Rose does troupe/ large order discounts, so even if your instructor doesn't have any further preferences, it might be worth getting together with your fellow students to do a group order.

Just to make it clear, the standards are exceedingly relaxed, for better or worse! The only two requirements that were stated were:

1. The costumes must be "family friendly" (her words, not mine), examples of not-family-friendly were: no see-through pants or tops, no slits up to the hip, no excessive amounts of breast showing. She even mentioned considering a "peasant top" since those are easy to come by and have a semi-belly-dance-y aesthetic.

2. Since we are performing as part of a parade with the theme "Green Movement", we are to have "greenish" costumes.

I am in no way trying to go behind my teacher's back and do "whatever I want anyway."

When we perform during our recital in the Fall, our teacher designates the look specifically and we all dress to match each other. In these festival cases, my impression is that she really doesn't care as long as we don't offend anyone and look like we're at least trying. You may agree or disagree with her philosophy, but there it is.

One thought: Silk skirt + silk harem pants = static, especially in the winter. Silk flow beautifully and is usually washable, but will need ironing more than other fabrics.

Has the teacher given you no guidelines at all? Usually, the teacher will strive for some sort of cohesive look for the group, even when the group isn't going to wear professional costumes. For instance, an instructor might say, "Everybody wear a black tank top and black dance or yoga pants with a coloured coin scarf." This is a lot more effective than each dancer going out and doing her own thing, all higgledy-piggledy, IMO.

So, I agree with those who say that before you spend any money, check with your teacher and the other dancers to see if there are plans to create a somewhat cohesive look for your group.

Originally Posted by Lara L

agree with everything Tourbeau said (except that I love the tie dye look from L Rose and think they look way classy...)

I suspect we were picturing two different types of tie-dye, and I wasn't specifically thinking of L.Rose. Some tie-dyes are more elegant than others. I agree that a tone-on-tone velvet can be rich and subtle, and watercolor and ombre silks can be very pretty, too. I was thinking more of the louder, multicolored designs--the ones that look like they'd be at home at a Grateful Dead concert. Those are harder to pull off with sequins, unless you're talking couture. I also think you can get away with a wildly colored veil much more easily than you can a skirt or dress, because you're not wearing it the whole time.

Since you have open guidelines, I'd go with what you were looking at. L Rose sets hold up nicely and will last you a long time and the $100 student thing is a good deal. My suggestions:

-yellow harem pants under the green skirt
-no silk skirts... they are a pain in the butt to maintain and keep nice... I'd just email or call LRose and ask for a chiffon or satin skirt in green that matches your top. I'm sure they can get the fabric for you even if the site says they are out.
-and orange skirt under the pink set sounds pretty... esp if there is orange in the tie dye top... orange skirt w/ hot pink harem pants should look nice and coordinated

Hope that helps!

Originally Posted by adela

How about these?

The details:250 Golden Coins Velvet Belly Dance Hip Scarf Green - Tmart.com

Spam has been reported.

Originally Posted by Lesedi

Since you have open guidelines, I'd go with what you were looking at. L Rose sets hold up nicely and will last you a long time and the $100 student thing is a good deal. My suggestions:

-yellow harem pants under the green skirt
-no silk skirts... they are a pain in the butt to maintain and keep nice... I'd just email or call LRose and ask for a chiffon or satin skirt in green that matches your top. I'm sure they can get the fabric for you even if the site says they are out.
-and orange skirt under the pink set sounds pretty... esp if there is orange in the tie dye top... orange skirt w/ hot pink harem pants should look nice and coordinated

Hope that helps!

agree with this- especially on the silk. I don't really like light weight silk for costumes at all. I will use silk twill or silk stretch velvet if I want to hand dye something, but those are a lot more sturdy and practical. the lightweight silk wears out faster, is super clingy and doesn't really have enough hand to manipulate well as a skirt. I have several (tho not LRose) which were supposed to be dance skirts, but I just use them for street wear now- they really didn't work like I wanted them to for dance.

BTW- I absolutely love the yellow hip scarf!