Thought Provoking Belly Dance Costumes: the good, the bad and the hideous

Amine

Member
Not for dancing in for sure, but it has a very interesting history:


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A thing of beauty, but also a face plant special! I'd need attendants just to walk in the thing...
The colorful patterns on her dress gives a little style!
 

Zorba

"The Veiled Male"
Zorba, the dress suits you very well! This gives you a very successful style !
Technically its not a dress, but very hard to tell that even close up. Dresses for men are problematic as they must be made for our measurements - a skirt/shirt combo is easier to get to fit right. But I thank you for your kind words.
 

Amulya

Moderator
Technically its not a dress, but very hard to tell that even close up. Dresses for men are problematic as they must be made for our measurements - a skirt/shirt combo is easier to get to fit right. But I thank you for your kind words.

They should start designing dresses for men with the proper proportions so they look good. Of course arabic countries already have them, but it would be fun to have more choice in design, shape, length etc. In summer, dresses are so much more comfortable! Would would men have to miss out on that?
 

Zorba

"The Veiled Male"
They should start designing dresses for men with the proper proportions so they look good. Of course arabic countries already have them, but it would be fun to have more choice in design, shape, length etc. In summer, dresses are so much more comfortable! Would would men have to miss out on that?
Depending on how strict one's definition of the word "dress" is, I have either 3, 4, or 5. Two of them are form fitting and made specifically for me, a third is an off the rack Assuit dress that's loose enough to not look stupid. Another one could get away with being called a tunic because it basically is - its also Assuit, and the last one is a "Saudi Dress" which is basically a shapeless bag that's even more "tunic-y" than the tunic, but is officially called a "dress".

But I hear you - dresses are very comfortable, albeit sometimes a challenge to get into and especially out of, and they look great if they're made for men's measurements. Most OTR dresses - even if they fit, just don't work - the shoulder width to body width is different on most guys (including me), and the dress hangs stupidly over a flat chest. Never mind hip to waist ratio, blah, blah. A skirt/shirt combo is much easier to get to fit correctly, although the look can be very similar as @Amine notes.
 

Amulya

Moderator
Depending on how strict one's definition of the word "dress" is, I have either 3, 4, or 5. Two of them are form fitting and made specifically for me, a third is an off the rack Assuit dress that's loose enough to not look stupid. Another one could get away with being called a tunic because it basically is - its also Assuit, and the last one is a "Saudi Dress" which is basically a shapeless bag that's even more "tunic-y" than the tunic, but is officially called a "dress".

But I hear you - dresses are very comfortable, albeit sometimes a challenge to get into and especially out of, and they look great if they're made for men's measurements. Most OTR dresses - even if they fit, just don't work - the shoulder width to body width is different on most guys (including me), and the dress hangs stupidly over a flat chest. Never mind hip to waist ratio, blah, blah. A skirt/shirt combo is much easier to get to fit correctly, although the look can be very similar as @Amine notes.

It doesn’t help when there is boob space, that would look so weird! And the shoulder fit is a big issue. Men’s waists are generally lower than women’s. So much to take in consideration.
What makes a tunic not a dress? Sometimes I wonder with garments I have if it’s a dress or tunic haha.
I guess a tunic needs trousers underneath, they tend to have splits on the sides, like the Indian salwaar kameez you wouldn’t want to only wear the top part!
 

Zorba

"The Veiled Male"
It doesn’t help when there is boob space, that would look so weird! And the shoulder fit is a big issue. Men’s waists are generally lower than women’s. So much to take in consideration.
What makes a tunic not a dress? Sometimes I wonder with garments I have if it’s a dress or tunic haha.
I guess a tunic needs trousers underneath, they tend to have splits on the sides, like the Indian salwaar kameez you wouldn’t want to only wear the top part!
Yep on the first, and "I don't know" on the 2nd. My tunic has the splits. *shrug*
 

Amine

Member
J'en ai parlé à ma mère en discutant de ce sujet, elle m'accepte totalement, le problème est que la société considère comme bizarre les hommes portant des robes, ma garde robe est composé essentiellement de jupes et pantaloons pour la danse uniquement, et vous aviez raison, cela doit être agréable à porter, et vous vous sentez vraiment beau dedans et vous recevez plein de compliments de la part d'autrui, il y a un tas de belles matières à porter, le truc c'est que, comme vous l'aviez dit, le problème vient de la taille qui est plus basse que celle des filles, nous n'avons pas la même morphologie ni les mêmes tailles et c'est ce qui complique le choix, on peut commander une robe sur mesure, mais c'est parfois relativement cher.
 

Shanazel

Moderator
"I told my mother about it while discussing this subject, she totally accepts me, the problem is that society considers men wearing dresses to be weird, my wardrobe is basically made up of skirts and pantaloons for dancing only, and you were right, it must be nice to wear, and you feel really beautiful in it and you receive a lot of compliments from others, there are a lot of beautiful materials to wear, the thing is that, as you said, the problem comes from the size which is lower than that of the girls, we do not have the same morphology or the same sizes and this is what complicates the choice, we can order a tailor-made dress, but sometimes it's relatively expensive."

Lots of dancers learn to sew because they can't afford or can't find the clothing they want. Custom made costumes can cost the earth for something that looks fairly simple. I sew, but have declined all requests to make costumes for other people. Suzanne is much kinder than I and has made some lovely bespoke costumes.
 

Zorba

"The Veiled Male"
"I told my mother about it while discussing this subject, she totally accepts me, the problem is that society considers men wearing dresses to be weird, my wardrobe is basically made up of skirts and pantaloons for dancing only, and you were right, it must be nice to wear, and you feel really beautiful in it and you receive a lot of compliments from others, there are a lot of beautiful materials to wear, the thing is that, as you said, the problem comes from the size which is lower than that of the girls, we do not have the same morphology or the same sizes and this is what complicates the choice, we can order a tailor-made dress, but sometimes it's relatively expensive."

Lots of dancers learn to sew because they can't afford or can't find the clothing they want. Custom made costumes can cost the earth for something that looks fairly simple. I sew, but have declined all requests to make costumes for other people. Suzanne is much kinder than I and has made some lovely bespoke costumes.
Yep. The two dresses made specifically for me weren't cheap!
 

Amine

Member
"I told my mother about it while discussing this subject, she totally accepts me, the problem is that society considers men wearing dresses to be weird, my wardrobe is basically made up of skirts and pantaloons for dancing only, and you were right, it must be nice to wear, and you feel really beautiful in it and you receive a lot of compliments from others, there are a lot of beautiful materials to wear, the thing is that, as you said, the problem comes from the size which is lower than that of the girls, we do not have the same morphology or the same sizes and this is what complicates the choice, we can order a tailor-made dress, but sometimes it's relatively expensive."

Lots of dancers learn to sew because they can't afford or can't find the clothing they want. Custom made costumes can cost the earth for something that looks fairly simple. I sew, but have declined all requests to make costumes for other people. Suzanne is much kinder than I and has made some lovely bespoke costumes.
Indeed you're right, there are plenty of tutorials on the internet for sewing, it's true that the advantage is that you don't depend on vendors or shops for your costumes, you can create your own costume from scratch by choosing yourself even the fabrics, but the disadvantage is that you have to have the time to do this, sewing a 25 yard skirt is relatively easy, but you have to be able to buy all the material to be able to sew, it can be a constraint for some. This is why requesting a custom order is so much easier.
 

Amulya

Moderator
Someone tried to spam my Facebook costume making group by trying to post this for sale….
 

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