Eman v Lila

danya

New member
They are made by the same maker I hear! Lila's bellydancecostumes.com is modest: she doesn't flaunt a name: and she is sooo adamant on quality! and her prices beat everyone, including her quality. I bought 15 costumes from her: she is my costume goddess!
 

lizaj

New member
They are made by the same maker I hear! Lila's bellydancecostumes.com is modest: she doesn't flaunt a name: and she is sooo adamant on quality! and her prices beat everyone, including her quality. I bought 15 costumes from her: she is my costume goddess!


You think these might be the same as Emans:rolleyes:


Gold Costumes
 

danya

New member
No No no, I meant Lila's Egyptian collection

Like this one for example:http://www.bellydancecostumes.com/designer/cos-green17c1.htm
and am saving every penny for that one: I love the cut velvet and TONS of crystals (Yes, more than Bella ever uses). I was just in Cairo: same maker as Eman! Going there again in a month to perform, but I couldn't find it cheaper there: she buys in bulk. She does not give me discounts: I never promoted her: just fell in love with 2 of them recently and after so many years of dancing, realized the difference! (Topkapi is great too though--but they don't have Egyptian)
 

lizaj

New member
Your link doesn't work but I did get to Lila's green costumes and no they still don't look like Emans..they look like Turkish bedlah and some quite pleasant Egyptian style 2 pieces. I'm sure designers might factor out to machinists and beaders who work for others but you can't make claims unless you know for sure.

Belly dance "fashion" is never static and never prescriptive but the dancers in the "upper" class venues do pay attention to trends. The girls in other venues wear what ever they like it seems to me.
 

danya

New member
Very well said Lizaj: are you a teacher?

I agree! pros do know the difference! I was referring to her (Lila's) Egyptian ones: I was in a workshop in Cairo: they tagged Eman's on the same costume they made for Lila: that's why I'm here: I was Behind the scenes: I saw what's going on behind the scenes; it kinda blew me away!. It's all marketing. I still don't think Lila does good advertising or presentation: perhaps ONLY on her site. She's some intellectual and that's her side thing/hobbie. But I saw with my own eyes, the same workshop in Cairo making the SAME costumes; Tagging them differently.
 

Mosaic

Super Moderator
Please see my comment regarding the Bella v Lila, the same comment pertains to this thread.
~Mosaic
 

Caroline_afifi

New member
I agree! pros do know the difference! I was referring to her (Lila's) Egyptian ones: I was in a workshop in Cairo: they tagged Eman's on the same costume they made for Lila: that's why I'm here: I was Behind the scenes: I saw what's going on behind the scenes; it kinda blew me away!. It's all marketing. I still don't think Lila does good advertising or presentation: perhaps ONLY on her site. She's some intellectual and that's her side thing/hobbie. But I saw with my own eyes, the same workshop in Cairo making the SAME costumes; Tagging them differently.

That is a total lie. There are some designers making costumes for dancers under their labels like Randa and Camelia (as niether of them sew).

But what you are saying is deliberately misleading. You have certainly not seen this going on in Emans. You are using her name to try and flog crap.
 

Mosaic

Super Moderator
Eman has her own workshop and if some other place is tagging their costumes as Eman's they are downright frauds. I very, very much doubt any of them would do that.

You just have to look at this page of Eman Zaki costumes to see the finish, Lila doesn't have any of this standard that I can see.

Belly Dance Costumes | Belly Dance Store.com: gallery

Lila has a few nice lower end costumes which asre suitable for dancers who don't have the funds for the high end ones and for beginner dancers who don't need to outlay for extravagant costumes at this point in their dance career.

Many dancers would be very grateful for vendors such as Lila that allows them to afford a nice costume at the beginning. The lower end ones may not last as long as the top end, but for many dancers if they are not dancing all the time or professionally then the lower end is perfectly OK.
~Mosiac
 

lizaj

New member
I think most of us could see with our own eyes that Lila's costumes are probably perfeclty serviceable Turkish bedlah and few rather mundane Egyptian "dresses". If people want to buy 15 of those, it's a free world but many dancers would rather have 2 or 3 Emans or Bellas.
 

Emma_Williams

New member
I agree no offence but those Lila ones look tacky and horrid. Sorry if anyone has bought one but thats my opinion. I cannot believe someone would come on here and try and mislead someone. If I was a newbie i just may of gone off that piece of info and ended up buying myself a load of tat. What an awful and shameless thing to do. I think you should be removed from here because what you write is dangerous and damaging. I really remember myself as a complete clueless novice and if i saw that post without any knowledge on names i may of ended up buying that and it upsets me that you might fool someone with lies....grrrr cant bare liars!!!!
 

Daimona

Moderator
Lila has a few nice lower end costumes which asre suitable for dancers who don't have the funds for the high end ones and for beginner dancers who don't need to outlay for extravagant costumes at this point in their dance career.

Many dancers would be very grateful for vendors such as Lila that allows them to afford a nice costume at the beginning. The lower end ones may not last as long as the top end, but for many dancers if they are not dancing all the time or professionally then the lower end is perfectly OK.

I agree. Most of the belt and bra sets seems to be ok and suitable for dancers on a budget. Except for a handful, most of the skirts are too tacky to suit my taste, but skirts are easily fixed...
 
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Caroline_afifi

New member
Well I have a simple theory... if you are selling good stuff which is quality, why do you have to con people into believing it was made by someone of a certain standard?

I didnt like any of them.. but that is just my personal taste... to link them with Eman is just plain bad taste.
 

Suzanne Azhaar

Active member
De-lurking for Eman’s defense.

I know the vendor who first contracted her work in the United States. Said person ordered an enormous shipment then called me to come over to check the quality of sewing & bead work, on each & every costume.

The vendor was on the phone with Eman repeating every good and not so good thing I said, learned very quickly to check my words. U.S. to Cairo for the length of a shipment, betting that call was expensive.

Eman does employ a separate group of haberdashers and seamstresses, whether they work for someone else in their private time is irrelevant.

There are no copyright laws in Egypt concerning fashion designs. Thus copying is rampant and yes, there is the outright mislabeling and misleading consumers. Buyer be informed and beware.

The point, one glance at the costumes on Lila's link and there is no comparison. The raw materials used are completely different, the sewing is different and based on those facts the quality is different. Granted these are photos, I do not have a sample in my hand, but I am not accepting the statement of Lila's work equaling Emans. It is a very misleading statement and I believe it is intentional.
 

Tracey

New member
lets hope you get a big discount

I agree! pros do know the difference! I was referring to her (Lila's) Egyptian ones: I was in a workshop in Cairo: they tagged Eman's on the same costume they made for Lila: that's why I'm here: I was Behind the scenes: I saw what's going on behind the scenes; it kinda blew me away!. It's all marketing. I still don't think Lila does good advertising or presentation: perhaps ONLY on her site. She's some intellectual and that's her side thing/hobbie. But I saw with my own eyes, the same workshop in Cairo making the SAME costumes; Tagging them differently.

Absolute bunkum .............
As a long time lover and admirer of Eman and the Golden Lotus attelier , this is a very very poor attempt to infer that her costumes are inferior...........
I know how much work and expense is put into her work and you may have been blown away , but by what.................
I hope Lila gives you a huge discount on the further mulitudes of costumes you are obviously going to purchase and wish you luck with the crap you will be wearing .
shame .
 

Aniseteph

New member
The point, one glance at the costumes on Lila's link and there is no comparison. The raw materials used are completely different, the sewing is different...

Exactly - they aren't even constructed the same way. To imply that the difference between these and Eman's is just the tag is absolutely ridiculous.

As for that clip... there's quality and there's quantity - you pays yer money and takes yer choice.

ARM SOCKS!!! :lol:
 

Jane

New member
I had one of those generic Turkish bra and belt sets as my first "store bought" costume. I did not get it from this vendor of course! I still have it, fifteen years later. It meant a lot to me because I had to save up what was a lot of money to me back then. It cost me $235 with shipping from Turkey. I remember feeling how excited I was and how proud my teacher was that I was willing to invest in a "real" costume. :lol:

I posted a couple of old pics with me in it on my profile photos. Ah, memories. Haven't tried it on in a long time, not sure if it even fits, but I will pass it on to my daughter for belly grams and other places where it will take on a new and appropriate life.


Note the glitter dot mermaid skirt and matching aquaman gauntlets! The skirt is kind of cute actually, and still fits me. I need to duplicate in in a better fabric. Those gauntlets though...yikes!


Same set with a green Dahlal skirt. I cut the top tier off and made some sort of sleeve things. I still have that skirt too. This was before I started dancing regularly in shoes.

Never did figure out what to do with those cheesy sheer skirts and useless veils those sets used to come with. :think:

As for the claims on that website- wow. What a crock of crap.
 
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