Contacting Eman...

mariyah13 · 06-15-2007, 08:22 PM

Am I wasting time trying to email?
Just wondering if I need to be patient or if calling is really the only
way to reach her.

theresa2 · 06-15-2007, 11:01 PM

I would be patient. She does answer my e-mails, just not right away sometimes. It's also high "festival" season in Egypt right now. Reda/Farida Fahmy's was a week ago, NileGroup starts today, and Ahlan wa Sahlan starts the 27th. If you hear from any of the costumers in the next three weeks be very grateful!

ChristinaRizkallah · 06-18-2007, 02:39 PM

Eman is very good at responding back to her e-mails. So since we have all the festivals right now, I would wait until the end of June/beginning of July. She does the fashion show at Ahlan Wa Sahlan. Not sure if she still does the fashion show at Nile Group (I know Aida Nour and Sahar do). I would give it until the end of the June and if you don't hear from her, go ahead and call her. Her English is very, very good. Or, just call her right now, if you don't want to wait. Her phone number is on her web site.

mariyah13 · 06-18-2007, 05:47 PM

yes, I know I can call, but I seem to have endless problems calling Egypt.
I don't have a landline so I have to use a calling card to call from my cell phone The cards always give me problems and if I can manage to get through there is the issue of calling at the right time on their end with the time differences. If I can avoid the phone hassle and email I prefer it that's all

elisagamal · 06-19-2007, 12:03 AM

my experience: I had to email, and email, and email... be very patient. leila (cairo) told me I'd totally have to keep on her about things. it took a full six months for her to get my costume to me. :( and she charged me more than I was expecting. :( and it didn't fit. :(

I do know other people who have had better luck working with her. for me, I'll just wait for leila's annual trip through town to get a costume on the cheap, and order any others through dahlal (with the higher price than I expected and the shipping fee, plus the wire transfer fee, I only saved $20 from buying through dahlal during the january sale. and, it would have come faster and the fit would have been guaranteed).

ChristinaRizkallah · 06-19-2007, 01:01 PM

If you want to call at the optimal time, call when its 7:30 am in Cairo. Even if you can an international operator (say AT&T for example) they will advise that also. For some odd reason, land lines work best around that time frame. Eman has both a land line and a cell. She always picks up her cell, if not her, then her assistant. The assistant's English is good enough to communicate whether or not Eman is available to take the phone call or not.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mariyah13

yes, I know I can call, but I seem to have endless problems calling Egypt.
I don't have a landline so I have to use a calling card to call from my cell phone The cards always give me problems and if I can manage to get through there is the issue of calling at the right time on their end with the time differences. If I can avoid the phone hassle and email I prefer it that's all

theresa2 · 06-19-2007, 01:13 PM

I have to agree - Eman can be a bit slow. She designed a costume for me when I was there, and I got it 6 months later. Others I know have experienced faster turnaround, but in general a few months is the minimum. Shipping and bank fees added about $100 to the cost of the costume, so yeah, sometimes the savings doesn't amount to much. I still love her to death, though!

I didn't have any problems with the fit, so my experience was a bit better.

mariyah13 · 06-20-2007, 12:03 AM

Eman wrote me back!
The price she quoted for the costume I want is quite a bit more than what I paid 2 years ago when I bought directly from her in Cairo. So yes, with the shipping and wire transfer fees I will not be saving much money at all.
I'm a little concerned though, after reading elisagamal's post. Do you think ordering through Dahlal would actually be faster?
I may just go for it since she did get back to me in fairly good time :-)

ChristinaRizkallah · 06-20-2007, 01:08 PM

I would still order it directly from Eman. In my experience, it takes 3-6 months to get a costume (the first time I ordered from her I just ordered one costume and it probably took at least two months). The second and third times I ordered from her, I ordered 5 costumes each order and it probably took about 5-6 months to get those orders. It depends on how much she charges you, but even with shipping and bank wire fees, ordering direct from her is still cheaper than Dahlal, plus you have more control over what you get, plus for obvious reasons, communicating with the designer is much better than going through a middle woman.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mariyah13

Eman wrote me back!
The price she quoted for the costume I want is quite a bit more than what I paid 2 years ago when I bought directly from her in Cairo. So yes, with the shipping and wire transfer fees I will not be saving much money at all.
I'm a little concerned though, after reading elisagamal's post. Do you think ordering through Dahlal would actually be faster?
I may just go for it since she did get back to me in fairly good time :-)

jody · 06-20-2007, 02:18 PM

DeeDee from Little Egypt is going to Cairo this Sunday, you can place an Eman order with her for about $500. I am ordering one. You can contact her at sales@littleegypt.com

elisagamal · 06-21-2007, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mariyah13

Eman wrote me back!

I'm a little concerned though, after reading elisagamal's post. Do you think ordering through Dahlal would actually be faster?
I may just go for it since she did get back to me in fairly good time :-)

for the record, a friend of mine ordered a custom eman from dahlal several months after I placed mine directly, and she got her costume a month and a half before me. for whatever that's worth.

elisagamal · 06-21-2007, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChristinaRizkallah

I would still order it directly from Eman. In my experience, it takes 3-6 months to get a costume (the first time I ordered from her I just ordered one costume and it probably took at least two months). The second and third times I ordered from her, I ordered 5 costumes each order and it probably took about 5-6 months to get those orders. It depends on how much she charges you, but even with shipping and bank wire fees, ordering direct from her is still cheaper than Dahlal, plus you have more control over what you get, plus for obvious reasons, communicating with the designer is much better than going through a middle woman.

I dunno. at least if you go through a middle woman, they will take back the costume and get it fixed for you with no hassle. I'm stuck with an expensive costume that I can't wear, and if I send it back to be remade, the shipping costs back and forth will shoot the price way up over what I would have paid through dahlal. I have to try and sell it on my own and start all over again.

if you're buying as many costumes as christina does, yes, sure, you'd save a lot buying direct. one money transfer fee vs. five saves almost $200. and, if you're a regular client that buys a bunch of costumes at once, you're a more attractive client than a one-offer and you're bound to get better service.

sorry. just my disgruntledness over my bad experience talking to me. and, I do have another friend who ordered a costume from her and it came about 8 inches too long. she too had to sell hers (at a loss) on her own.

Shaunte · 06-22-2007, 04:49 AM

Just out of curiosity to those who have received items that didn't fit.... Are you measuring yourself or are you having someone measure you? The reason I ask is because I read on a website (can't remember which) that had a FAQ re ordering custom costumes that you should always have someone else do your measurements for accuracy.

****As a side note, WAMU (washington mutual) offers free unlimited international wire transfers. I recently found that out when I decided to start vending for Eman.

mariyah13 · 06-22-2007, 11:50 AM

Quote:

As a side note, WAMU (washington mutual) offers free unlimited international wire transfers. I recently found that out when I decided to start vending for Eman.

Good to know!!

mariyah13 · 06-22-2007, 12:10 PM

Well, I placed the order so I am crossing my fingers! I tried to be as specific as possible with my measurements and special requests.
I am heartened by the fact that she has actually been very fast to respond to my last email. She wrote and told me that she had all of my information and would start my costume after the festival.

ChristinaRizkallah · 06-22-2007, 01:29 PM

Sorry Elisagamal, you are right. I guess because my experience for the first three orders that I did with Eman were positive, I am more inclined to advise someone to order directly through her. If its a one-off costume then perhaps you are better going through a middle woman especially if you fear the costume not coming out correct, etc... But if you are a repeat customer and have already established a good relationship with the designer, then I would say, keep ordering from the designer direct. Or if you are willing to take the risk ordering from the designer direct, then I would say go for it. I'm about to place an order of three costumes with her and of the first 11 I ordered (first three orders: 1st order had one costume; 2nd and third orders had 5 each) I had no problems. But if the costume were to come out complete wrong (wrong color, style, or so wrong in size that it is unalter-able) then in that case I would advocate a middle woman who can have the costume re-made for you at no additional cost.

Quote:

Originally Posted by elisagamal

I dunno. at least if you go through a middle woman, they will take back the costume and get it fixed for you with no hassle. I'm stuck with an expensive costume that I can't wear, and if I send it back to be remade, the shipping costs back and forth will shoot the price way up over what I would have paid through dahlal. I have to try and sell it on my own and start all over again.

if you're buying as many costumes as christina does, yes, sure, you'd save a lot buying direct. one money transfer fee vs. five saves almost $200. and, if you're a regular client that buys a bunch of costumes at once, you're a more attractive client than a one-offer and you're bound to get better service.

sorry. just my disgruntledness over my bad experience talking to me. and, I do have another friend who ordered a costume from her and it came about 8 inches too long. she too had to sell hers (at a loss) on her own.

ChristinaRizkallah · 06-22-2007, 01:31 PM

Did you give her your measurements in cm? You must have as she would not understand inches, etc... Also, the worst alterations I've had to do on my Emans are move the hooks over and shorten the hem and I do not consider these bad alterations. Even if a costume is a wee bit too big, that is fine for me. For example, when I ordered her "balady beat" the jacket was too big, so I had my seamstress take it in. My definition of a really bad costume would be if the bra were too small, because in that case I can't do anything about that! But I think you will be fine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mariyah13

Well, I placed the order so I am crossing my fingers! I tried to be as specific as possible with my measurements and special requests.
I am heartened by the fact that she has actually been very fast to respond to my last email. She wrote and told me that she had all of my information and would start my costume after the festival.

elisagamal · 06-25-2007, 03:24 PM

just more blabbing -
if I didn't have a bra size issue that made it impossible to buy costumes off the rack, I would be much more encouraging about buying direct from eman. I *have* to have my costumes custom made - no choice! and if they don't come exactly as i ordered them, i can't tweak them. if you happen to be an average size dancer - say, size 8, 34-36b/c, 5'6" - your chances of getting a costume you can work with shoot up exponentially. the people I know who have had the least success in ordering direct from egypt or turkey have had unusual issues - extremely petite or very tall.

so, that said, I would feel comfortable buying direct from amira al kattan. I KNOW that her cup size 5 works for me. also, I'm ordering direct from hallah moustafa. I've met with her in person, she took my measurements, and she has seen first hand my sizing issues.

ChristinaRizkallah · 06-25-2007, 04:26 PM

Regarding the designers you mentioned, I also order #5 from Amira El Kattan. There seems to be less variation in the sizes and fit with the costumes that I order from Amira vs. Eman. For example, I can order several costumes from Eman in one order, and sometimes the lenghts of the skirts will vary or the width of the sleeves with vary. But with Amira, all the costumes within the same order are pretty consistent. I order a #5 from Amira and a small #5 from Eman. Don't ask the difference between these two bra sizes, all I know, is that they work for me.

I have several costumes on order from Hallah. I order her classical coverage which is the full coverage bra. I've also met with her and she offers a lot of variety in her sizing and bra cups.

I'm like you, I can't buy costumes off the rack, I have to have them specially made, perhaps because of my bra size.

Quote:

Originally Posted by elisagamal

just more blabbing -
if I didn't have a bra size issue that made it impossible to buy costumes off the rack, I would be much more encouraging about buying direct from eman. I *have* to have my costumes custom made - no choice! and if they don't come exactly as i ordered them, i can't tweak them. if you happen to be an average size dancer - say, size 8, 34-36b/c, 5'6" - your chances of getting a costume you can work with shoot up exponentially. the people I know who have had the least success in ordering direct from egypt or turkey have had unusual issues - extremely petite or very tall.

so, that said, I would feel comfortable buying direct from amira al kattan. I KNOW that her cup size 5 works for me. also, I'm ordering direct from hallah moustafa. I've met with her in person, she took my measurements, and she has seen first hand my sizing issues.

elisagamal · 07-01-2007, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChristinaRizkallah

I have several costumes on order from Hallah. I order her classical coverage which is the full coverage bra. I've also met with her and she offers a lot of variety in her sizing and bra cups.

thread hijack...
which hallah designs did you order? I'm torn between #4 and #13. I don't have enough gigs to justify more than a couple new costumes a year, which makes it so hard - it's just crushing if the costume isn't perfect when you get it!

ChristinaRizkallah · 07-02-2007, 01:31 PM

Yes, it is crushing if the costume you ordered doesn't come out the way you want!

I like #4 and #13. They are both nice. Are you getting both or just one? What colors are you looking to get them? The ones that I have ordered and received are #34 (black and silver) and #35 (fushia and burgondy). I have already received those.I really like both especially #35. I have several others on order still, some of them are no longer up in her gallery. I also have #C7; #16 and #B7.

Quote:

Originally Posted by elisagamal

thread hijack...
which hallah designs did you order? I'm torn between #4 and #13. I don't have enough gigs to justify more than a couple new costumes a year, which makes it so hard - it's just crushing if the costume isn't perfect when you get it!