Thread: costuming for dancers on a budget

Can we brainstorm and figure out some solutions to this age old problem?

A lot of us are on budgets, or are students starting out and not wanting to make a big investment on costuming..

I receive a lot of requests from dancers wanting silk but they are on a budget..yet silk is not cheap and dyeing by hand isn't either (using as example)

so what kinds of costuming trends or fabrics could be available to budget dancers? The Bellas and Hanans are usually reserved for dancers WITH a budget ALLOWANCE so should silk veils be in the same category? What about specialty props like Isis wings, candleabras, expensive zills, etc?

I am hearing two or three things here.

First off, costumes come in a whole range of prices / styles / quality. There are decent off the rack Egyptian beaded bedlahs which can be gotten for around $100 which will work for a fist costume. And there are options which are even less than that.

Veils are also in this category. You can pick up 3 yards of fabric on sale for less than $20. Most of your veils aren't expensive and if someone who is on a budget keeps their eyes open, they can find them for even less either as an Oops or second hand. I have gotten two off of E-bay for $20 including shipping. There are silk artists who charge much more.

I think that there will always be someone who wants the best but doesn't want to pay for it or have the patience to wait until they have the funds to be able to afford what ever the object of their desire is. I have seen that you have some blends for sale for between $29 - $39. Even for someone who doesn't have a great deal of money, if they are patient, this is not hard to come up with. It simply takes time.

{{{HUGS}}}

Well, students could always opt for (gasp!) solid color silk until they are ready to commit funds for professional, beautiful dye jobs. ;)

Super simple, plain stretchy beledi dresses are somewhat functional and work for many different body types. They can be layered over (with belt and/or bra) and built onto (decorated directly) as well, so they can grow with the student. I actually wish there were more options in this area for students, pre-made in standard sizes and less expensive than custom-ordered.

Specialty props (beyond student zills and canes) are usually for professionals and enthusiatic hobbyists, so there is probably a very small market for cheaper varieties.

To make self your costume is perhaps the cheapest thing to do.
But you have to sew, and that can be a difficulty.
There a 4 things to consider when you make it your self.
Time, money, effort and a lot of patient. If you don't have a lot of money
you have to shop on markets, garagesales, second handstores.
You can make a very low budget costume, if you make everthing yourself.

1. Concept
Know your figure, your shortcoming.
2. Collect picture's you like
Fashion, bellydancecostumes, everything that gives you inspiration
3.Design the costume
4. Choose your budget and stick with it.
5. Start shopping, to find everthing cheap and to your liking, this is a
very time consuming process.
6.Start sewing.

Costumer's Notes Holiday 2002
You can downloaded freely, it helps with a lot of tips.
If you buy Beautiful fabric (brocate, of something with beads already) you don't have it to much adorn it youself.
Buy acrilic stones, glass beads and seedbeads to mix.
Make your own fringe, but keep it minimal.l
Sometimes less is more.
There is out there a lot of tips to make beautiful costumes and keep your budget low. But it take times

Well... I know that this isn´t the best option but on Ebay there are lots of costumes that are really cheap, of course they aren´t glamorous or super fancy, but i think they can work if you are starting .... what´s your opinion?
here I leave some examples

Belly Dance Costume 3Pics Bra Belt Skirt Royal Blue | eBay


New High quality belly dance 2pcs costume bra & Skirts | eBay

hey Andre!

To answer your question about the costumes you linked, here is my personal opinion: Those are great dress up and play belly dancer costumes but the quality and fit is generally very poor. In the past I have done a costuming workshop and I have purchased these to do research. I found that the materials were very low quality and the fit was bad. Plus they were unfinished. If some one is a student and dancing in a studio hafla and the bra fits, I would probably be okay with it. but the moment someone was thinking about wearing any of those outside those closed parameters, I would nix it. If you can't afford a decent quality costume - lower end is fine - and accouterments, then you should probably think about whether or not you should be performing. Plus, if you are performing with a group, your teacher / leader should take into account cost, appropriateness to the venue / and representation of the art to the audience. These Chinese costume, unfortunately, do look cheap and wear out quickly. It's better to wait a little bit and buy something better.

{{{{HUGS}}}

Well Im a begginer and the last two months Ive been looking prices of costumes here in bhuz, ebay, and other webpages but the cheapest prices ive found (that aren´t chinense) are like 200 dol for a bra belt set... and I think we live in different worlds... I know a lot of people that 200 dol is the money they live with in a month, so paying that money for a costume sounds a little bit crazy ( at least if you are not performing professionally).... Well, what Im trying to say is that if you are a begginer and you are performing in for example in your academy show for friends and family, i think this kind of costume could be allowed.... And not being allowed to invest that money in your costume shouldn´t bid you from performing.
( Im sorry if im not expressing my ideas correctly but my mother language is spanish)

No, I understand what you are saying, and I think we agree in that for a student show at the studio / academy the Chinese costumes, if appropriately adjusted because they are not stage worthy, are fine. It's when they are being sold as "professional" that there is a problem. (It is my intention to put together a video talking about how to make these costumes, if not professional, at least more wearable.)

That having been said, there are many threads here which talk about appropriate costuming for student recitals, shows and showcases. Most don't require much beyond yoga pants and a beaded hip scarf and maybe a coordinating veil. To require students to have than that when everyone has a different budget, is very insensitive of the teacher.

Oh, and on e-bay you can find Egyptian manufacturers who sell decent, basic costumes for $90. Still a lot in comparison to your economic situation, I know, but less than $200.

And as someone else has said, people can always learn to sew. By re-purposing old clothing, one can come up with beautiful, unique costumes.

{{{HUGS}}}

Originally Posted by tahiradancer

Oh, and on e-bay you can find Egyptian manufacturers who sell decent, basic costumes for $90. Still a lot in comparison to your economic situation, I know, but less than $200.

Could you perhaps give examples? I'm quite wary of ebay concerning clothes shopping and I wouldn't know how to tell if the manufacturer is decent. I mean, I can look at the costume and say that it looks good, but I wouldn't have any knowledge if it's actually a picture of their own product, for example. Do you have any particular sellers that you are thinking of?

Sorry, this is liable to sound ranty. I understand the importance of having this conversation for someone who sells dance supplies to a population that consists of way more beginners than pro dancers trotting around in custom-made couture costumes, but...

If you are a student who doesn't perform, why aren't you being told that you don't need to be concerned with purchasing professional-quality supplies? This is not a terribly cheap hobby to do after the first six weeks of classes. It just isn't, and if you can't afford to buy new after a certain point in your education, then there are age-old solutions to this age-old problem. You can bargain hunt, you can make your own, and you can buy/scavenge second-hand stuff. We don't need to apologize for this. What you want and what you need can be two different things.

If you need a veil for class, you could buy three yards of poly chiffon off the remnant table for under $10, or you could get a plain, hemmed, white silk veil for $15 from Dharma Trading, or you could look around at swap events and hope someone was getting rid of a veil that they didn't want any longer. If you're a beginner, you don't need a glamorous, hand-dyed, pro-quality veil to step on in class. The barfy mustard chiffon from the clearance rack, or the plain white veil, or the blue veil with the hummus stain on it all work fine in that circumstance. Student performers should use student-performing-quality stuff, not professional, performance-grade supplies. That's not to say we should let students crawl on stage in ratty, mismatched, poorly made garbage--even the lower standards are still standards--but encouraging students to buy at the higher ends of the consumer spectrum when they're just starting out sends the message that the most important thing about being good is having the money to look the part.

Tourbeau great point..

my first instructor would bring in a variety of items for us to choose from, both budget minded all the way up to $500 costumes. A beginner costume to me (and actually something I still enjoy wearing) was a simple circle skirt and a hipscarf. I 'grew up' in Colorado when I started pro dancing and we had a shop in our dance studio, I remember these really pretty simple velvet cholis, lots of hipscarves and skirts were available to us.

I took bellydance very seriously, I knew I wanted to pursue it long term but my budget at the time wouldn't allow for more than maybe one hipscarf every couple of months or a new CD. My first veil was a rainbow silk veil from Unicorn for $60.

Hope I wasn't implying that students or anyone on a budget should settle for cheap stuff..not at all ..back in the day I was selling on ebay full time there were fewer bellydance vendors and we have a tight community that shares things like quality and reputation of seller. Now there are a lot of vendors and you can read the feedback but it's still a gamble to buy something if you aren't already familiar with their quality or had feedback from other dancers.

There are a lot of benefits to buying a $200 polished outfit, when you are dancing full time it's nice to have something that's already pulled together to put on and go dance. But I tend to buy separates so I have a bit of costume variety.

First dance costume as a student at our hafla (these are estimates)

$75 for skirt material and cost of seamstress to make a skirt for me
$12 black bra
$20 approx for doo dads collected from Joanns to decorate black bra
$10 costume jewelry
$60 rainbow veil
$3 bindi
$50 jingly hipscarf i used for class

so..it still is comparable to dropping $200 (is bellydance with K still in business? she always had some neat costumes that were priced in that range)

oh..another thing to consider of course is where you will be dancing..I had a heck of a time getting the smell of tobacco and hookah smoke out of a gorgeous high end costume I wore once to a lounge grand opening in Berkeley CA

if there's food, alcohol, smoke, dirty floors..all something to consider when choosing colors and pricing perhaps

( i have a separate collection of skirts just for outdoor concerts )

This isn't a cheap hobby, even if you aren't buying top-quality stuff. I'm not sure how low of a budget you want to market towards... There are plenty of people who sincerely cannot afford anything right now, as much as they would want a nice item. Some people will never want to pay what is a fair rate for anything.

I've been on a pretty tight budget since I began dancing. However, when I do buy things, I tend to buy higher quality, because I figure it ultimately saves money in the end. To afford nice dance-related things, I've learned to bargain-hunt, use the Swap Meet, borrow, do work-study, bought those Oops veils that Akai occasionally offers, etc.

Lots of threads on Bhuz and sites online have discussed how to costume on a budget... I think everyone who has contributed information has exhausted the options for those on a budget. I don't think there are better solutions than what currently exists. The way I've always felt about the high-cost is that the vendor has to eat and pay bills, not to mention the amount of skill and time that goes into creating costumes or other items.

I danced for 12 years before I ever had a silk veil. I like them but find them very hard to use effectively as a result... but you don't NEED to have silk veils. Normal bogstandard chiffons and organzas are what people have used in my neck of the woods for years, before it became possible to buy silk veils online. And frankly, silk is lovely but if you're crappy with the silk - the technique is really different - it looks far worse than a few metres of chiffon, no matter how pretty the veil.

Originally Posted by jesennia

First dance costume as a student at our hafla (these are estimates)

$75 for skirt material and cost of seamstress to make a skirt for me
$12 black bra
$20 approx for doo dads collected from Joanns to decorate black bra
$10 costume jewelry
$60 rainbow veil
$3 bindi
$50 jingly hipscarf i used for class

so..it still is comparable to dropping $200 (is bellydance with K still in business? she always had some neat costumes that were priced in that range)

True, but what if you don't have $200 to drop in one go? A lot of people don't. Or, what if you're not a standard size? I could count on one hand the costumes I've seen available for purchase that would fit me *ever in my life*, and while I am a big woman I am not exactly what's known as "goddess sized" - I'm just tall, with a very large bust. I know I won't get a good bought costume for under $300, more likely $800 to $1000 since if I'm going to buy something it might as well be nice and fit.

This is why I do support either buying a bedleh if you are small busted or making one if you're not.

Eman did a set I thought was a brilliant starter working dancer costume: bra and embellished skirt, with matching galabeya and embellished hip wrap. You've theoretically got three costumes there if you consider the bra and wrap a bedleh that you can wear with other skirts.

When I made my first two costumes I made them over a period of months - I didn't have a proper job at the time, so I would buy some satin to cover the bra/belt, then next pay, some beads and sequins, then next, some fringe... and later MORE beads and sequins because I'd run out. This is quite achievable if you make sure you use only standard colours.

Love the very simple yet effective costuming in bollywood videos
...bright chiffon skirt with sari panels, choli top, etc

i don't know how we would manage if I wasn't a very skilled seamstress with online sources to replace the remnant counter at the rapidly-disappearing fabric stores.

For beginners and recital-level students, Shira's suggestion of hip scarf, pants and simple top cannot be beat. The real impact of any costume, IMO, is based on good choices of line, color, texture and fit (all frequently missing in imported beaded costumes), and these can be incorporated by the beginner (or her seamstress) using small bits of beautiful and compatible fabrics on top and hip belt.

Originally Posted by Kjesta

Could you perhaps give examples? I'm quite wary of ebay concerning clothes shopping and I wouldn't know how to tell if the manufacturer is decent. I mean, I can look at the costume and say that it looks good, but I wouldn't have any knowledge if it's actually a picture of their own product, for example. Do you have any particular sellers that you are thinking of?

Here are two. I have not done business with either, but if the pictures are anything to go by, they look to be decent quality. Their feedback also reflects this. The only caution I would put forth is to double check on their shipping charges and policies as this seems to be the one area which is unclear and has in one case been the cause for poor feed back.

eBay My World - egypttradediscount

eBay My World - alooegypt

{{{HUGS}}}

Originally Posted by tahiradancer

...

eBay My World - egypttradediscount

...

{{{HUGS}}}

I am a bit wary of this one. They have a photo from Dahlal with a Pharaonics spiraling jewels costume.

As well there is also a picture of Michelle Joyce wearing a Bella costume.

As with everything, this is a buyer beware issue. As I said, I can't personally tell you about any of these manufacturers. I simply said they were out there and that other people have bought from them.

{{{HUGS}}}

I don't want to over generalize, I know there are folks who don't fit this profile, but what I have seen in my own students is this:
No matter how much I counsel beginners that they should save up for a good costume, or remind them I am happy to counsel them on purchasing quality costume pieces, most of them will spend $30 here and $50 there on JUNK. Rather than saving up to buy a $200 costume, they buy $300 of low quality or at least non-necessary items and complain about buying a $40 skirt for the spring recital. I know, it's not everyone, but it can seem overwhelming at times. Frustrating. Another dancer who was in the student troupe in the troupe I used to be in had the opposite experience. She got the student costumes when asked to, and saved up for the bedlah which everyone in the professional troupe was required to have. She said it was really nice to have that feeling of 'graduating' to the bedlah when she moved up, and I think that is awesome.

Back to Jess's question about veils- I do think a hand dyed silk veil is something to work up to. There are cheaper options out there already, which are fine for folks who aren't ready to commit to a more expensive veil. I use undyed half circle veils from Dharma for practice veils. I have a couple rather ratty older dyed veils in the class bin with the white practice veils, and no matter how ratty, they're still the first to be chosen, so people do perceive the difference and attraction of a well dyed veil. I have different types of veils in there too and encourage everyone to play around with different materials and weights to figure out what they like. hand dyed silk IS a premium item, I don't see how you can make it cheaper, honestly.

Originally Posted by tahiradancer

Here are two. I have not done business with either, but if the pictures are anything to go by, they look to be decent quality. Their feedback also reflects this. The only caution I would put forth is to double check on their shipping charges and policies as this seems to be the one area which is unclear and has in one case been the cause for poor feed back.

eBay My World - egypttradediscount

eBay My World - alooegypt

{{{HUGS}}}

I bought two basic egyptian beaded bedlahs from aloo egypt and had no problems at all. One bedlah did turn out to be far too big, but sizing is always going to be a problem if you order online. Other than that, prompt delivery, all ok. The only thing I would mention is that they send by express delivery by default - I asked if they could send it more cheaply and they were happy to.

I think that (while not 100% success guaranteed, of course), it would help a lot if teachers did more costume education, in particular in the form of show-and-tell. I know that back in my early days, I would have benefited a lot from being able to see up close and touch a high end set, a coin set, a cheap piece that sheds, a few choices for low-cost student outfits, a silk vs. a chiffon veil, etc. - I had no idea what to look for. I still recall that I ordered a catalog from Artemis Imports, which left me completely perplexed ;-)

Fast forward a decade or so: Recently, I attended a costume workshop, and while I am well educated and enjoy a reputation of being well costumed, I still got lots out of it by having a very experienced costumer and seamstress talk about how she looks at things, esp. during show-and-tell how she evaluates the quality, fit and adjustability of her costumes.

Although, part of the problem may also be what one considers important: I was perfectly happy to pay for the workshop and felt that I got my money's worth, whereas quite a few dancers who probably could have gotten a lot more out of it than me did not come ...

I agree- seeing hands on costumes and how they work/constructed would go a long way. I did my first few costumes by pictures off the internet and what I kind of thought I wanted.

Fast forward and I'm beyond strictly tribal style and I'm working on a great loops costume. GASP. Never in a million years did I think I'd be in a straight skirt or circle skirts with a traditional bedlah. But here I am- picking up books and reading as much as I can.

It won't be perfect but you gotta start small and work your way up- OR go ahead and save up for a decent costume.

I think there is too much pressure to perform anyway at a really early age in the dance community- to be completely honest. I think investing in some good quality all around pieces- is the best thing to do. (LROSE is a great place to start)

I hate to say if you can't afford a decent costume you shouldn't perform- because I think dance is for everyone- but you need to understand whats going on and have propriety for the event that you are going to- and realize you represent not just your "blend of dance"- but you represent your teacher- and the organizers of the event as well.

I agree with Steffib and Basha - it's definitely an education thing for new dancers to see quality versus cheap.

I am always one to remind people that belly dance is a hobby, and like most hobbies, is not cheap. I have a dancer friend who also rock climbs in her free time and her rant is "I don't go on rock climbing forums and complain about how much the gear costs!" (Well, that gear is also protecting her from falling off a cliff, so who would want to skimp on quality?!)

In my free time, I knit or I fold origami - high quality wool yarn is expensive, so is premium origami paper (they are the bellas of their genres). Did I start out with either? No, I practiced on cheap acrylic yarn or plain printer paper till I got it right. Then, my final designs that are "show worthy" are in a nicer wool blend or nicer origami paper but not the most expensive out there.

I think it's always good to show people it's about balance. Belly dance is no different than any other hobby - you have to invest wisely in it according to your means.

I get frustrated with the over-valuing of costumes anyway. Costuming is great. Costumes are designed to enhance both the dance and the dancer...but if you don't invest time in developing your technique, and you don't invest time in learning about music, so what if you're wearing nice-looking clothes? Beautiful costumes don't fix lousy performances. Expensive veils don't compensate for bad posture and a lot of meaningless swanning around. Learn how to put together a quality performance, then worry about collecting a closet full of sparkly stuff.

Originally Posted by phillyraqs

I agree with Steffib and Basha - it's definitely an education thing for new dancers to see quality versus cheap.

I am always one to remind people that belly dance is a hobby, and like most hobbies, is not cheap. I have a dancer friend who also rock climbs in her free time and her rant is "I don't go on rock climbing forums and complain about how much the gear costs!" (Well, that gear is also protecting her from falling off a cliff, so who would want to skimp on quality?!)

In my free time, I knit or I fold origami - high quality wool yarn is expensive, so is premium origami paper (they are the bellas of their genres). Did I start out with either? No, I practiced on cheap acrylic yarn or plain printer paper till I got it right. Then, my final designs that are "show worthy" are in a nicer wool blend or nicer origami paper but not the most expensive out there.

I think it's always good to show people it's about balance. Belly dance is no different than any other hobby - you have to invest wisely in it according to your means.

LOL I ride a bike- and I also take the bike to the track- obviously bike gear is expensive- but yet somehow people are ALWAYS trying to cheap out of it- and it isn't like most of it is mandatory (street no- track yes) but its like- what a pair of 200$ pants is expensive? I dunno gee- I kinda thought the trip to the ER to get the gravel scrubbed out of your skin with a wire brush and a brillo pad might be expensive and hurt- but shrug what do I know!!!

Costumes are designed to enhance both the dance and the dancer...but if you don't invest time in developing your technique, and you don't invest time in learning about music, so what if you're wearing nice-looking clothes? Beautiful costumes don't fix lousy performances. Expensive veils don't compensate for bad posture and a lot of meaningless swanning around. Learn how to put together a quality performance, then worry about collecting a closet full of sparkly stuff.

agreed- I typed out- "if you can't afford a decent costume- you shouldn't be dancing because you probably aren't sinking the money into classes to make you ready to perform"

which was my initial thought... but you said it better and much less condescendingly!

I learn so much from you all :)

yup when we were first learning veil in class my instructor had a bin of veils and the bright colored silk ones were always snagged up by students first ..I regularly sell small boxes of oops veils to instructors so that they have veils on hand for their students but you're right dancing with silk is its own thing, dancing with other types of fabric is different