Thread: Student Group Costumes? What do you do?

So I'm prepping for my next big student extravaganza and I'm wondering what to choose for my student's costuming.
I like a unified look.

Last time around I had everybody in the group pieces wear matching shirts that I had printed for them, with black pants or skirt (most opted for pants) and a colored hip scarf. Like in this photo:



They had the option to wear the shirt down or fold it under and pin it to show their bellies. I thought they looked really cute.

I plan on doing the same thing this time for my basics class, but in my essentials class we are doing a veil choreography and I thought it would be nice to do something different, maybe a little more colorful. I know I can't expect a huge investment from my students though, so I need to find that happy medium.

What do you guys do for low budget, flattering on different body types unified student group costumes?

We've done circle skirts from Moondance with choli tops & hipscarves. We've also done pants & tops from L. Rose.

I use LRose al lot. My beginner class get s the "instant costume" of a choli and fringe belt and its only $55. Then they can purchase thier own skirts and embelish the belts and cholis as they wish.

Originally Posted by mmouse1534

I use LRose al lot. My beginner class get s the "instant costume" of a choli and fringe belt and its only $55. Then they can purchase thier own skirts and embelish the belts and cholis as they wish.

The L. Rose Troupe deal is $100 for a half top, skirt, pants, and veil. That is what I have done. Very unified look, very useful pieces.

My troupe bought $4/m fabric and sewed bras and skirts. I told them any style was ok. I know for a lot of them it was their first time sewing but the price was right for them and they threw themselves into it with a little encouragement.

My student group has lrose half top and trumpet skirt set. Everyone has royal blue, but they get to choose the sleeve style, neckline, and several other options for the trumpet skirt (slits, extra gores, etc.). They do have to have sleeves for the half top though. I think the sleeveless ones look like workout gear or bathing suits. They also have to choose a half top that will allow them to wear a supportive bra underneath. Lrose has enough options that busty to flat figures are flattered. If someone didn't want to show their midriff we would let them get the longer top option.

This runs them between $115 and $150 depending upon the options chosen.

The troupe owns coordinating hipscarves and veils (the latter made by me).

We went with Lrose 3/4 sleeve pinch front tops and trumpet skirts. All the same style, but they got to choose the colors. They wore coin hipscarves and their own jewelry, and we used sparkly brooches pinned to the center of the tops to dress them up a bit. We also got the coordinating chinasilk veil from Lrose as well. It was good for a few performances, but they were ready to start looking for coin sets (bra covers and belts they could sew to bases) before long.

hey, i really love finding outfits for my students. here's some of what we've got


- Big double layer chiffon skirts, any colour they want EXCEPT black/dark blue/dark brown. it has to be colourfull. i have a few loaners for the students that dont have one yet. on top matching (or non matching) all black tops. colourfull egyptian beaded hipscarf over the skirt
alternative: hipscarf in the hair as well
alternative: gypsy tops i bought on top of it

-All White. we now have nice all white sharifwear skirts, but before we had these any white trousers/skirts were fine. matching or non matching all white tops (as long as they are the same shade). plus simple identical belts, plus CRAZEEEE akai silk veils in alll colours of the rain bow. Most of my students have their own, i have a few loaners

- L rose wear: trumpet skirts (all the same but variying splits), and tops. ALL same material and colour, but their choice of tops.

- Sharifwear Crazy Print Gothic Pants. I bought 20 of them and they came to 35 E each
on top: school tops, with the school name on it

- i had a huge lower level group: they could be alll red or all blue. but could wear whatever they wanted. i had practice wear to full costumes. I was afraid it would look chaotic, but since there were so many (9 blues and 9 reds) and the choreography was about "two teams", it looked very very good AND uniform. you need to be strict about colour shades. no pink, no turquoise, no teal, etc

L.Rose and Moondance are really reasonable price-wise and size-wise. They both take a few weeks so order early.

I agree with Artemisia about the colors thing, as long as everyone goes with the same shade and it can work if the costume styles are different.

one student number I was in last year that looked good on stage was everyone picked a different color satin circle skirt, and the deal was that everything else had to be that same color- bright pink, green, purple, royal blue, wine etc... so it looked really cool as each person's color popped against each other. It wasn't chaotic even though everyone had different styles of top and hip scarf because each person was totally one color. I dyed veils for those who didn't have a plain colored one in their shade and that kept the costs down. all told most of us spent about $100.

Do you guys have any photos? I'd love to see how these looks come together on different body types.

<3

At our last school show, nasila did a veil choreo and we did veil, top and hip scarf matching, over black pants. Every one chose their own colour. So I had a purple veil, tee and hip scarf over black melos.

{{{HUGS}}}

our studio provides all costumes. (granted registration fee is higher).. they aren't super fancy by any means, but people still say that they prefer a uniform look regardless!

The least expensive we have ever gone was buying some nice stretch velvet on sale & sewing straight skirts with a high slit (very fast & easy to stitch!) and a nice black tank with hip scarf and coin necklace. Besides those vendors already mentioned, Mode Mystique is also a good place for inexpensive skirt/vest sets at troupe rates. The most expensive part for most of my students is that initial hipscarf, which, fortunately, can be used year after year, so we usually plan around what color scarves folks already have. I am toying with the idea of keeping some rayon practice skirts on hand to loan out when we do skirts in class or when we need them for a specific group performance, but I like to keep my classes small (12 or less per class) out of personal preference.

This year we made our own bras, we all bought black bras and decorated them ourselves with ribbons and fabric and then sewed on gold chains that hang down (instead of fringe). We wore black bellydancewear (of course) yoga pants and matching hip scarves. Then did the black fishnet stockings on our arms. Very different from the typical Egyptian style bedlah we normally do. But we were doing more modern music this year and wanted a different look. It was very cheap and it is nice to have a bra that actually fits!!

Originally Posted by bellydancewear

This year we made our own bras, we all bought black bras and decorated them ourselves with ribbons and fabric and then sewed on gold chains that hang down (instead of fringe). We wore black bellydancewear (of course) yoga pants and matching hip scarves. Then did the black fishnet stockings on our arms. Very different from the typical Egyptian style bedlah we normally do. But we were doing more modern music this year and wanted a different look. It was very cheap and it is nice to have a bra that actually fits!!

BDW yoga pants to the masses :)

Originally Posted by david

BDW yoga pants to the masses :)

..l;, ..l;, ..l;, Shokran Habibi!

picture time

the l rose look



and



all white (the hipscarfs are really cheap lros stuff, veils are jes)



will look for more later

we did this for a show and it looked really nice. the deal was everyone stayed in the same style but could pick the colors they wanted. style was: double layer chiffon circle skirts + veil (color of choice), coin bra/belt set (silver or gold -- coordinate with skirt/veil color. the coin sets weren't all the same, different bra straps, belly drapes or dangle arrangements. but all coin), bangles the colors of coin set and chiffon set, hair down. it looked awesome because of all the colors, but staying all in the same style so it didn't look hectic. i liked it :)

My instructor has used l-rose and we got to chose the colour we wanted - we could have gone with a slit and whatever type chiffon sleeve. When we were all together, it really was quite nice. Recently we purchased "endless wave pants" and wore a simple lace top with them - we chose the colour we wanted and matched our top to the pant. My instructor tries to keep costuming quite economical so that everyone can participate.

And you guys looked great, SuzyQ!