About 10 years ago, I collaborated with a Bay Area belly dancer Celena, The Killer Ziller on a Hahbi’ru style costume. She was a long-time co-conspirator with John Compton, the artistic director and beating heart of the troupe, and Celena needed an appropriate costume for appearing with Hahbi’ru. This amazing headdress is built on a balsa wood box, wrapped in quilt batting. Then I covered it with blue fabric and an assortment of modern and vintage assiut. I finished off this edifice with a large kuchi choker and an assortment of pressed coins. It looks fantastic in performance as the three flaps on the back fly up during sharp, quick turns.
Category: Assiut/Assuit
The exotic and rare hand-embroidered cloth from Asyut, Egypt.
Last May I had the pleasure of attending Tribal Fest 2013 in Sebastapol, Ca. It’s a loud ruckus event that has a ton of energy, high style, and amazing performances by dozens of Tribal, ATS, and Fusion performers from around the globe. In an effort to promote the work I’ve been doing on my next book, Cloth of Egypt, I walked around with my most amazing piece of assiut, that I’ve named “The Big Kahuna.” This is a spectacular piano shawl, sized for a baby grand style piano and dates back to the 1890’s. The Kahuna has a strong brass color on one side, and a darker tone on the other, darker colored from years of laying on a varnished wood surface. Weighing in at 7.6lbs, it’s heavy and when it’s draped on your body, it clings in that luxurious manner unique to vintage assiut. Here’s a collection of photos of folks who enjoyed experiencing the Kahuna first hand. Enjoy!
One of the projects for the book, Cloth of Egypt: All About Assiut, was a lovely turquoise and blue bra for the illustrious dancer Princess Farhana of Hollywood. While I was vending at Cairo Caravan in June, I worked on this project. Here are some quickie phone snapshots of me working on this amazing bra! The final finished project will be featured on the back cover of the book. Princess Farhana will receive this lovely costume piece at Carnival of Stars in August!
Today is the last day of my Kickstarter campaign! As I type this, I have a mere 21 hours left and the frenzy of the last month will be over. It’s been quite an experience, like an exhilarating thrill ride. We made our minimum amount for funding in a mere 42 minutes. I’m completely gobsmacked over the results and the final tally exceeds 6K. The outpouring of support from the community has given me a tremendous sense of belonging, and I’m so happy that there are so many folks interested in the same subject, assiut cloth from Egypt.
Everyone who has donated to the Kickstarter campaign are listed in our sponsors page, both in the book, here on this website and in the upcoming magazine edition of Costumer’s Notes. I consider everyone who pledged money to be part of this grand collaboration! There are dozens of model/dancers, photographers, and fashion designers who have contributed images and designs to this book in concrete and tangible ways. The people who choose to back me via Kickstarter, are taking an even bigger risk, on a sight-unseen book. Each and everyone of you have helped me make this book better, by subsidizing the purchase of resources, photography, and computer resources. I’m looking forward to finishing this publication, and I invite you all to check back here on the Costumer’s Notes blog, to follow along with the project from where it stands today, until it is ready to ship sometime in late fall.
Thank you so very much for your continued support!