Categories
Assiut/Assuit Belly Dance Costuming DIY General

Assiut Robe Styling Tips Direct from Egypt

Davina-Looking-Down-Assiut-VJLove assiut robes, but aren’t sure how to style them? How they should fit? What type of belt would look best?  Here is a collection of videos direct from the source, Egypt.  These dancers illustrate different approaches to head, hip and jewelry embellishments.  In all cases, the performers accent their hips with belt and usually either partially or fully cover their hair.  Just remember, when you buy a new modern assiut robe, it will come in a very boxy square cut.  As these dancers clearly illustrate, the preferred Egyptian fit is tailored to a slightly loose but body-skimming cut.

 

 

This clip features Nabeweya Mustafa wearing a densely patterned assiut robe with a large diagram of what appears to be the continent of Africa across her torso accented with Egyptian cartouche and stylized star motifs. She’s casually tied an unadorned scarf around her hips, and casually wrapped a paillette edged veil over her shoulders.  Unfortunately, the sound is quite distorted, so be sure to turn your volume down.

Nabeweya Mustafa appears in this next clip as well.  Her lively Fellahin dance in the middle of a cotton field is quite charming, especially when you check out the pattern on her sleeves – which features a stylized field of plants.  She wears a triangular shaped scarf around her  hips, and at various points in her dance, she has a shawl that is worn on her head or around her shoulders.  The crescent shaped dowery necklace is traditional for Upper Egypt.

The last video features Farida Fahey and Mahmoud Reda. She’s wearing a lovely traditionally cut assiut robe with traditional rectangular construction instead of western shaped armscye. with a long black veil, and shaped silver belt.  Her assiut robe is so heavily embellished that jewelry isn’t missed.  As a side note, I really enjoy seeing the amazing Mahmoud Reda in his prime!

Categories
Assiut/Assuit Costuming DIY General

Who’s That Girl? Lyda Borelli as Salome

LydaBorelliBarLyda Borelli was an Italian silent screen film actress who appeared in 14 movies between 1913 and 1920. Scholars of film history consider her first Italian film star, earning the title diva. Before she appeared on the silver screen, Lyda began as a child actor on stage, and during the first decade of the 20th century, she joined the ranks of the Salome’s, then a worldwide phenomenon.  She performed hundreds of shows, through out her country and in Italy her name became synonymous with the role. By 1911, when the fad for Salome  had passed and performers were moving in different directions and taking on new roles, Lyda continued to tour Italy with her show before she hung up her brass charger and began working in the new medium of film.

During the first quarter of the 20th century, it was common practice for theaters to sell postcards of their stars in the lobby.  Lyda was photographed at various times during the long run of Salome and many postcards like the two on the right have survived. (Fig. 1)  These images offer clues to the cut, style and construction of her costume ensemble and continue to inspire designers today.

Her dress for the role of Salome changed over the years.  Early on, she wore an ornate two-piece ensemble composed of a cropped top and a skirt, lavishly embroidered with beads and sequins. (Fig. 2)  By 1911, her costume had transformed into a gorgeous dress. This appears in the photos to be a complicated garment with multiple layers of chiffon and an ornately beaded lattice work bodice. The skirt features scattered bead and sequin embellished floral motifs. Although we don’t know the color, we certainly have the impression that the chiffon was pale and probably flesh colored to create the illusion of nudity. (Fig. 3 )

Her wrap is an Egyptian assiut shawl. In the top image, you can see many of the most distinctive images found in assiut embroidery work on her shawl.  The dancing girls, or brides hold hands in a long row  between two registers of wheat, both of which are common imagery in wedding shawls that were made by the thousands during this era. The ornately embroidered assiut shawl added that extra touch of both authenticity and exoticism to the look of the ensemble.

Lyda Borelli as Salome, 1909
Above: Fig. 2 – Lyda Borelli as Salome, 1909, (source)
Below: Fig. 3 – Lyda Borelli as Salome, 1911,
photo by Mario Nunes Vais (source)
Fig. 3 - Lyda Borelli as Salome, 1911, photo by Mario Nunes Vais
Below: Photo of Lyda Borelli as Salome, c. 1911
by Emilio Summariva (source)
2253_2y010_2253_1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Assiut/Assuit Belly Dance Costuming DIY General

Princess Farhana Features “The Cloth of Egypt” on Her Blog!

WEB-PRO-1 -PRINCESS-FARHANA-ADJ-DAWN-SQUAREThe super-glamourous author/dancer Princess Farhana featured me in a write up about “The Cloth of Egypt: All About Assiut!”  entitled “The Queen of Assiut.”  I’m so very honored to work with Princess Farhana, who is beyond a triple threat – working as a dancer, instructor, workshop leader, costume designer, and author! We were so pleased to feature her in a gorgeous, retro inspired rhinestone embellished assiut costume on the back cover of the book.  Alisha Westerfeld shot the Princess at the last big MECDA show, Cairo Caravan in 2013. In this photo, she is wearing a teal and blue assiut bra encrusted with rhinestones and dripping with jewelry.  This bra is part of a collaborative costume design, where I designed and built the bra and the Princess made the belt and skirt.  The white vintage assiut is very special, a treasure from the trove of the Princess.  During Cairo Caravan, I actually worked on this bra, finishing up the fitting details and the last of the embellishments.

Lynette Harris of Gilded Serpent eZine and I shared a table at this event, and during the outreach, we had the opportunity to chat with dancers, costumers, teachers, and even had a visit by the dance impresario Miles Copeland of Bellydance Superstars.  Through it all, I was pleased to get this beautiful bra completed.

Lynette-Miles-Dawn-WEB

 

FactsaIMG_0748-L about the Costume:  The turquoise and blue rhinestone costume was fun to design and build, and I wanted to take a few moments to discuss this particular bra.  The base was purchased at Target for under $20.  I bought the two colored assiut panels direct from Egypt from a vendor on eBay, total cost with shipping was $100.  The blue bi-cone Swarovski crystals were purchased from Rhinestone Guy.  The tummy drape is two necklaces from Shiny Sparkly Things.  Other materials that went into this bra includes: thread, hooks and eyes, grosgrain ribbon and buckram interfacing.  The total for materials and supplies of the bra and belt are approximately, $140.  Not bad for such a bright and blingy costume.

When the bra was completed, I gave it, and all the rest of the materials and supplies to the Princess to complete the design.  In August 2014, the completed costume was debuted at Assiut Fest, and this photo was snapped by Alisha Westerfeld.  What a beautiful costume on a lovely dancer! Wanna see it in action – check out the video below.

Categories
Assiut/Assuit Belly Dance Costuming DIY Design General Publications

“The Cloth of Egypt: All About Assiut” is Done!

I’m so pleased to announce that my book, The Cloth of Egypt: All About Assiut is now available for sale for the introductory price of $29.95.   When the book is available on Amazon.com in late November, it will retail for $34.99.

Thank you all for sharing this amazing journey from concept to finished product!  I hope enjoy my book, I’m so very proud of it!

Dawn Devine ~ Davina

The-Cloth-Of-Egypt-Cover-WEB

Categories
Assiut/Assuit Belly Dance Costuming DIY Publications

Book Report: The Cloth of Egypt Status – We’re Almost Done!

COE-Section2-2spreadsHello Gang!

The Cloth of Egypt: All About Assiut is nearing completion and I’m so happy to be closing in on the end of this project!    I’m in the final week of layouts.  Next step: Editing!   Right now, the book is sitting in that 250-260 page mark, each day that I work on the final layouts, it goes up a spread or down a spread depending on the flow of the content and images.  I think we’re four weeks from being absolutely complete!   The next phase of the book production includes sending the book out to our editors, collecting the edited documents, integrating edits into the final book, and then ordering proofs from the printer.  It’s a multi-week process and the end is definitely in sight!

The screen shots below represent 12 spreads taken at random from the four major sections of the book. As you can see, it’s filled with images that support the information. My co-author, Alisha Westerfeld has done an outstanding job with the bulk of the images, and along with a handful of extraordinarily talented photographers, this publication has become a visual delight.

Ultimately, I want this book to be a really good value when you pick it up!  I’m so very proud of how far I’ve come, and I’m looking forward to sharing the finished book with you soon!  At this point, the book release will be sometime between August 20 and Sept 15, depending on the speed of my editors, the efficiency of the proofing process with the printer, and as long as their are no major glitches, your copy will be available soon!

So enjoy this sneak peek!
Thanks for joining me on this adventure!

~ Dawn Devine ~ Davina

ps – Remember, you can email me if you have questions – davina@davina.us
pps – I’m really looking forward to getting back to blogging on a regular basis – I have so many projects to share with you that didn’t even MAKE it into the book.  As soon as we hit “print,” I’ll be back at work here on Costumer’s Notes!  Until then – Happy Costuming!  ~ D

Kickstarter3-ImageLARGE

Section 1

Section 2

Section3

Section 4