Tag: assiut

Categories
Assiut/Assuit

Who’s That Girl in Assiut? Terpsichore

As many of you know, I have an ever growing collection of vintage postcards of lovely ladies, actresses, singers, and dancers lavishly dressed in assiut. However, I’ve never been able to land my hands on a hard-copy of this incredible image. I first spotted this photo of an unknown dancer many years ago during an internet search. But, I could never hunt down an original.  This appears to be a theatrical post-card, widely used in the first quarter of the 20th century as a keepsake for fans after stage and cinema performance.  Due to the age of the photo, this image is in the public domain, and consequently, there are thousands of digital copies floating around the web.  Our  mystery beauty is wearing an absolutely fabulous pair of assiut harem pants embellished with beads and fringe.  The dancer signed this post-card with her stage name or the title of her role, Terpsichore, a popular theme for early-modern art dancers.  Her lovely ensemble has all of the hallmarks of orientalist costumes typical of the era from 1905 – 1920.  I keep seeing her around the web, floating across Pinterest boards and Tumblr feeds, but never on a sale page.  Someday, I hope to make her a part of my permanent collection.  Until then, I’m happy to admire this digital version.   Be inspired.

Dawn Devine ~ Davina
Nov. 15, 2015

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Categories
Assiut/Assuit Publications

Book Reports: Cloth of Egypt – Proof #2

The second proof arrived!  And there was much rejoicing!  Now that the proof is in my hot little hands, I’m in the middle of fixing a bunch of issues – small issues – but in a 260 page book, there are a lot of them. We’re adding commas, taking out double spaces, and using proper italics to denote book titles are just to name a few!  The team of crack editors which includes a professional editor/copy writer, a tech support god, a crack librarian, a former school teacher, and my mom, are all going over a copy of the book hunting for the rogue typo’s, poorly formed sentences, and other problems.   I’m estimating 3 weeks for the editors to go through their copies, get them back to me, and for us to get the edits into place in the publication.  We are REALLY close to done!

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The cover is finalized and approved – with Her Royal Highness, Princess Farhana of Hollywood on the back cover wearing a bra made from modern assiut and dripping in a vintage assiut shawl.  Alisha Westerfeld took this photo during a super-fast 15 minute photo shoot on the Queen Mary Ship in the Observation Bar.  Using existing light, and dodging tour groups, we managed to get this amazing shot!  One tour guide, seeing the Princess in her glorious makeup and wrapped in assiut, told his group that she was actually a ghost!  The lovely 1930’s era decor made for an amazing, and quite appropriate, backdrop for the vintage cloth.  Find out more about Princess Farhana on her website.

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It turns out that there are some photos that didn’t quite make the grade in quality.  We have to find replacements for about half a dozen images, and we’ve got holes for another 20 or so more.  So we’re sorting, selecting, prepping about 25-30 images.  We have another 60 or so that need contrast adjustments to appear perfect in the final publication.  Like the image above, I’m working on making the final few fixes and then the work will be complete!  Now, if only it were as easy as threading up a needle and repairing a split in vintage assiut cloth.  But as you can see in the image below, of 12 pages, 6 spreads, the book is looking less like a random collection of text and pictures, and more like the cohesive publication it will be in a matter of weeks.

If you haven’t signed up for my mailing list –  now is the time!  I’ll be sending out a discount code for the book via my mailing list when the project is done!

Now, I’ve gotta get back to work!

~ Dawn

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Categories
Assiut/Assuit Design

Vintage Assiut Fix – Poster of Hedy Lamarr as Delilah

samson-and-delilah-hedy-lamarr-1949Need a dash of vintage assiut to decorate your room?  Cannot afford antique textiles?  Well, here’s a fantastic compromise, buy a poster!

In 1949, Hedy Lamarr starred in the film Sampson and Delilah, and wore a drop dead gorgeous assiut ensemble designed by Oscar award winning costumer, Edith Head. This dress made a stir at the time for its opulence, drape, and revealing midriff.

The website All Posters has this image of Hedy wearing her assiut wearing her two piece ensemble features an asymmetrical cropped top that has a long dramatic drape that drops from her right shoulder to the floor.  Her floor length skirt is pulled up just enough to showcase her vintage shoes.

Best of all, it comes complete with her signature sassy style, glamorous pose, and take no prisoners glare!

Hedy Lamarr as Delilah picture at All Posters starting at $16.99.  Click Here for more Info.

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

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Section 1

Section 2

Section3

Section 4