Fabulous Full Figures, Part 3: Asifa el-Bah'r - Page 2
© Shira
I've always insisted that it's your costume's job to make YOU look good, NOT the other way around. These things are possible with just a little extra effort. Insist on it!
Asifa el-Bah'r winced at the $425+ price tag on this silver bra/belt set, but it was so rare to find something that fit her coloring, her aesthetic taste and her body all at once that she grabbed it up. She did add a little extra trim width around the decolletage to make sure her cups wouldn't runneth over.
The tissue lamé skirt has permanent accordion pleats and a subtle black moiré pattern and was part of her very first performance costume. She bought it as an evening skirt at Ross for something like $24.99; to make it "hip-hugging" she just undid the zipper a little ways and hid that under the belt -- the plastic zipper wasn't prone to slipping at all.
As for accessories, the body stocking began as a mesh shirt from a South Miami Beach boutique, and she dressed it up with sequins and fringe. The sliding waist chain is cobalt glass and faux oval pearls that she strung herself. The turban is a "Cindy Silks" tie-dye semicircular veil, which comes off later in the routine for combined cane-and-veil moves.
Green And Black Silk
Sometimes an idea to improvise will just hit you, and the results can be great! That was the case with this green and black silk costume. Photo by Larry Quick of southern Florida:
Asifa el-Bah'r describes how this costume came to be as:
I came to the workshop with just the black rectangular coin scarf you see here as a belt. During the course of the day at the vendor booths, I picked up a triangular coin scarf that matched the belt, a mint-green "Cindy Silks" veil with matching accent scarves, and a couple of braided-yarn coin sashes from Artemis. There was an informal fashion show that night and I thought: why not see how all these go together? I covered a strapless bra with the longer accent scarf, used a coin sash for a halter strap, turned the veil into a skirt, piled everything else on and voila! This picture is from that fashion show and everything was COMPLETELY held together by safety pins!
With some sewing and a few more embellishments, she later wore this for her taiko drum solo at Rakkasah, a California belly dance festival, in 1997.
Asifa el-Bah'r With Rising Phoenix Troupe
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