It was a great weekend of workshops and performances at Bedouin Bazaar in San Diego. I was pleased to debut my brand-new assiut bra and skirt ensemble. It was gratifying to receive some great complements on my tossed together look. Especially the bra. Thanks everyone!
Once the skirt is finished, it will hang about two inches lower than it did for this performance, but the 20 safety pins that held the skirt panels to my pants stayed put and did not come undone. To protect the assiut, I used a black faux-pashmina shawl as a hip wrap under my simple kuchi belt. All in all, I was pleased with the results, thought I would like to craft a much more prominent belt and find a better solution than this body stocking for my tummy. Like most costumes, it’s a work in process. I’ll get those changes made – for next time!
Unfortunately, the day of the event, I realized that I had forgotten my tie-top! Oh no! I’m not thrilled about dancing bare-armed at this stage of my career and at my current level of body confidence, so I needed to quickly find a cover-up solution. I took a quick turn around the vendor’s tables, but couldn’t turn up a tie-top, choli or sleeves that would work.
I remembered a tribal costuming trick I learned back in the 90’s. A pair of little girl’s tights can be quickly cut, converting the legs into sleeves. I sent my booth assistant (actually it was my mum) to Target on a quest for girl’s tights. However, they had none in black, so instead, she picked up a pair of leggings. For quick down-and-dirty solution, it worked. The directions for transforming a little girl’s pair of stretch pants into sleeves, check out my next blog post.
I had a great time performing to live music by John Bliezikjian and the Bedouin Bazaar band. I adore John’s lush voice when singing slow romantic tunes and his silky, rich tones are inspiring to me for sensual veil and taxim pieces. Turquoise is my favorite color and I was pleased to dance with a lovely silk veil from Judeen’s booth (only $40 and lush, I love the way it moved.) to add a punch of color and flow.
Since I am currently working on my assiut research project, I was exceptionally pleased to spot Judeen wearing an amazing vintage assiut tunic. Naturally colored, and dating back at least 80 years, this costume was gorgeous. Densely patterned, the drape was amazing. Here’s a great shot of her in motion and a detail shot of the lush designs.
