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Fabulous Full Figures, Part 5: Asifa el-Bah'r

© Shira

This article is Part 5 in a series of articles titled "Belly Dancing Costumes: Fabulous Full Figures." It offers inspiration to full-figured women everywhere who would like to learn to belly dance, but are reluctant because they don't know what they would wear.

This is a second gallery featuring Asifa el-Bah'r, who also appeared in Fabulous Full Figures, Part 3. In this gallery, she models additional attractive belly dance costumes from her personal collection.

Green Costume

Asifa el-Bah'r designed this beautiful costume herself, and made most of the pieces from scratch.

In her own words, she describes why she likes this costume so much:

This costume incorporates almost all the features I favor these days:

• Spine-friendly cross-back bra with front closure
• Patterned torso cover that contrasts with the skin for good ab-work visibility (here it's part of a flocked-chiffon "jacket" with abbreviated kimono sleeves that I pieced together out of a single Indian scarf)
• Harem pants are of a comfortable, breathable natural fabric (green/black iridescent silk) with pleats instead of bulky elastic at the hips
• An Asian-style gusset in the harem pants in place of a Western-style inseam that makes them very comfortable for both sitting and moving (they won't split if I do a split!)
• Wide Velcro-closure cuffs at the ankles that can't accidentally slip down and get caught on my heels (which can happen with some harem pants' narrow elasticized cuffs).

The belt and jacket draw the eye with many vertical and diagonal lines. The stamped nickel coins on the bra are 1.5 inches wide. One of the advantages of being a larger size is that you can wear larger decorations like this without disappearing under them.

The silver part of the belt with the big white rhinestones was a $15 accessory store purchase. The front beaded fringe and back beaded hip scarf were bought 6 years and 500 miles apart! She found the back hip scarf at We3 Bellydance in San Jose, California.

Copper Costume

This eye-catching costume is another creation that Asifa el-Bah'r designed and constructed herself.

In describing the inspiration that led her to create it, she said:

I'm nuts about evening gowns from Hollywood movies circa 1925-1942; this is my imagining of something Pharaonic-flavored, with lots of Art Deco license shamelessly taken. (Yes, Art Deco female models were very slender, but the style was used a lot for architectural ornamentation too; I just decided to classify myself as an honorary building).

The outfit is made from iridescent copper/rose silk. She fell in love with it despite the fact that it's not really one of "her" colors. She felt she could get away with it by placing the silver trim with green rhinestones as a border between the very warm-colored fabric and her decidedly blue-toned skin.

The copyright of the article Fabulous Full Figures, Part 5: Asifa el-Bah'r in Middle Eastern Dance is owned by Shira. Permission to republish Fabulous Full Figures, Part 5: Asifa el-Bah'r in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.