Costumes

Lorelei's Costuming Page

Lorelei has made several of her costumes. She has been sewing since Middle School, and has also taken Clothing Construction classes at the University of Delaware. She used books by Dawn Devine, web resources from "Turbans, Tassels and Tattoos!", and some altered sewing patterns to create her first costumes.

For all her "bra/belt" costumes, Lorelei reinforces a regular lingerie bra with stiffer materials like duck cloth and denim. She followed much of the advice in "Turbans, Tassels and Tattoos!" for making a coin bra to be sure it was sturdy enough for decoration. Then she covers with fabric and then adds the coins, bead, jewels, fringe and sequins. Darts are used to take up the excess fabric and get non-stretch fabrics to lie flush to the cups of the bra cups.

Here is another resource to create your own costumes, from Shushanna of Philly: www.shushanna.com/costumes.html. Shushanna includes instructions on how to make costumes, as well as resources for where to get supplies.

Find photos of older costumes here

Pink, Red, and Black Paisley

This costume combines elements of traditional and more modern bellydance costuming. Paisley patterns were seen in some older costume, but they were usually symmetrical. This costume contains black, pink and red elements, so it would pair well with several different skirts. The fringe is also multi color so it would show up against different colors of skirts. Or pants. This costume could also work as a modern fusion piece.

Photo from the Dancers Eye.
Veil by Silkdancer.

White Vintage

This was a costume inspired by its components and Black and White tapes of vintage dance. I had a number of silver, gold, and white embellishments left over from other costumes. When I came across several different pieces of white and beige satin and white lace, I knew I needed to combine them all into a White costume.

Photo from the Dancers Eye.

Blue Pearl

Blue Pearl was completed in 2013 and was part of the Paper/Fiber show at the Newark Arts Alliance in Oct 2015

Flame

The Flame costume was inspired by the fabric. Red and black pleather were left over from other costumes (see the bat wing) This costume was created to be used for fusion pieces, specifically for hard rock and metal.

Reactive Green

This costume was made specifically for the Blacklight Hafla in Nov 2017 (held in the Gallery of the NAA). The fabric and some of the embellishments glow under blacklight.

Fall Foliage

This costume was created to have a Fall Theme. I have various shapes of leaves as part of the top, belt and skirt. I even created matching bracelet and hair clip accessories.

Very V Blue

Very V. Blue was inspired by the V-shaped Blue fringe. Older Turkish style bellydance costumes have this amount and shape of fringe. I have not been able to find one for sale in my size, so I made a V-fringe costume of my own.

Photo by StereoVision Photography
Veil by Lorelei.

Coin and Kuchi

This costume was inspired by the dancers of Bal Anat. Coins and Kuchi elements from Middle Eastern and Asian countries are part of the embellishments.

Photo by StereoVision Photography

Light Up The Holidays

This costume was inspired by the Elf and Santa costumes available around the holidays. And by all the holiday lights. It also lights up. It was created in Dec 2018 and worn for the holiday season in 2018 and 2019.

Cotton Candy Light up

This costume was inspired by the fabric. It is slightly iridescent in shades of pink, blue and purple. Parts of this costume are blacklight reactive. And the top and belt light up.

Cat Woman

This costume was inspired by the TV series Cat Woman costumes worn by Eartha Kitt and Julie Newmar. I even created a pair of ears as an accessory for this costume.

This costume was made for the Super Hero themed Art of the Belly in March 2019

Photo by StereoVision Photography

Midas Touch Gold

This costume has a more modern feel. It has some symmetric elements and some asymmetry. It contains several shades of gold and rose gold in the fabric and embellishments.

White and Glow

This costume was created for the Nov 2019 Blacklight hafla at the Newark Arts Alliance. Many of the bead embellishments are not just blacklight reactive, but also glow green in the dark. Some of the fringe is also blacklight reactive.

Black and Silver

What can you do with several feet of left over metal mesh from a troupe costume? Use it as embellishments on a black and silver costume. This one just might be worn for the next Elevations student and teacher showcase in Summer or Fall 2020.
This costume was completed in Fall 2020 and was used for several online shows, including the 2022 Spooktacular.

Silver Metal

Many of these pieces were part of a troupe costume that never came to be. Time to use the silver fabric and the rest of the metal mesh. This was planned to be worn at the rescheduled Art of the Belly in Fall 2020, but with the move to virtual it was finished and worn in 2021 at the Delaware Drum and Dance Hafla at the Newark Arts Alliance.

Purple Slightly Spooky

This costume was inspired by several purple and black fabrics. It has been used in several photo shoots and videos since it was completed in 2021. Some of the black fabric has a spiderweb designs, so it is slightly spooky. It was was worn again at the August 2024 Delaware Drum and Dance Hafla at the Newark Arts Alliance.

Red Blacklight

This costume was started in 2021, but then upgraded and completed in 2023. It contains beads and jewels that are backlight reactive. It also matches the skirt made for the Multi Orange Blacklight costume.

Snowflake

This costume was completed in 2022 It was constructed from blue tissue lame fabric. It also contains beads and snowflakes that are blacklight reactive

Multi Orange Blacklight

This costume was completed in 2023. It was constructed from fabric, beads and jewels that are backlight reactive. It was used to for the Nov 2023 Blacklight Hafla at the Newark Arts Alliance.