Belly Dancing For Full Figured Women:

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Asifa el-Bah'r, Part 2

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This article is part of a series of articles titled "Belly Dancing Costumes: Fabulous Full Figures" intended to offer inspiration to full-figured women everywhere who would like to learn to belly dance, but are reluctant because they don't know what they would wear to perform.

This is a second gallery featuring Asifa el-Bah'r modeling additional attractive belly dance costumes from her personal collection.

Green Costume

Asifa el-Bah'r designed this beautiful costume herself, and made most of the pieces herself from scratch.

In her own words, she describes why she likes this costume so much:

This costume incorporates almost all the features I favor these days:

    • Spine-friendly cross-back bra with front closure
    • Patterned torso cover that contrasts with the skin for good ab-work visibility (here it's part of a flocked-chiffon "jacket" with abbreviated kimono sleeves that I pieced together out of a single Indian scarf)
    • Harem pants are of a comfortable, breathable natural fabric (green/black iridescent silk) with pleats instead of bulky elastic at the hips
    • An Asian-style gusset in the harem pants in place of a Western-style inseam that makes them very comfortable for both sitting and moving (they won't split if I do a split!)
    • Wide Velcro-closure cuffs at the ankles that can't accidentally slip down and get caught on my heels (which can happen with some harem pants' narrow elasticized cuffs).

The belt and jacket draw the eye with many vertical and diagonal lines. The stamped nickel coins on the bra are 1.5 inches wide. One of the advantages of being a larger size is that you can wear larger decorations like this without disappearing under them.

The silver part of the belt with the big white rhinestones was a $15 accessory store purchase. The front beaded fringe and back beaded hip scarf were bought 6 years and 500 miles apart! She found the back hip scarf at We3 Bellydance in San Jose, California.

Copper Costume

This eye-catching costume is another creation that Asifa el-Bah'r designed and constructed herself.

In describing the inspiration that led her to create it, she said:

I'm nuts about evening gowns from Hollywood movies circa 1925-1942; this is my imagining of something Pharaonic-flavored, with lots of Art Deco license shamelessly taken. (Yes, Art Deco female models were very slender, but the style was used a lot for architectural ornamentation too; I just decided to classify myself as an honorary building).

The outfit is made from iridescent copper/rose silk. She fell in love with it despite the fact that it's not really one of "her" colors. She felt she could get away with it by placing the silver trim with green rhinestones as a border between the very warm-colored fabric and her decidedly blue-toned skin.


The beads are heavy vintage art glass, while the coins are lightweight thin stamped copper. When she moves, the coins on the end of the fringe respond faster, and to smaller movements, than the beads do. The two types of ornament often move independently, which provides an interesting effect.

The V-back on the top is kind to the spine because it doesn't put any pressure on the vertebrae. The top has a side closure for easy solo dressing.

The body stocking, which is permanently attached except in a couple of places to make it easier to put on, used to be a brown stretch lace pullover - less than $10 from the lingerie department at Ross! Torso movement seems to show up wonderfully
through a fitted patterned torso-cover that contrasts with the skin -- each contour change produces accompanying light and shadow.

Black & Gold Moroccan Lace

Asifa el-Bah'r bought the delightfully simple Moroccan lace overgarment at a Middle Eastern dance festival in Florida.

The vertical sweep of the pattern always falls to a graceful silhouette in stationary poses. It also flows, floats and flies very nicely similar to a Saudi thobe, and will even accommodate some of the same movements, but is short enough to move in without having to hold it up continuously. The open sides can form windows so that a favorite shimmy belt can be worn underneath to very good effect: now you see it, now you don't! It's an intriguing way to add contrast in a performance.


Chainmail Costume

 

Asifa el-Bah'r's chainmail costume offers a completely different style from the usual belly dance costume. Here's how she describes it:

Here's where I go Art Nouveau (move over, Muxa) with a dash of Frank Frazetta for the Xenaphiles in the audience.

The "chain-mail" tunic, bought at a long-past Rakkassah, is actually little Mylar pieces with aluminum jump-rings. It weighs surprisingly little. On the down side, it falls apart constantly because the jump-rings aren't closed and the Mylar is thin enough to easily wiggle through the gaps.

Asifa wears a smooth-but-sturdy untrimmed stretch teddy with structured cups underneath. The skirt is Indonesian batik silk, bought at a later Rakassah.

Asifa describes her sword:

The sword, for those who like them as much as I do (I fenced a few different styles in my springy-kneed youth), is an Indian officer's blade, re-hilted for better balance by my partner David, who also made the scabbard.

Related Articles

For further thoughts on this subject, see the articles below.

Acknowledgement

This article originally appeared in the Middle Eastern Dance topic area of the Suite101 web site on November 30, 2001. It is reprinted here with permission from the author. Please visit Suite101 to enjoy additional articles about belly dancing.

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