What is the Turkish Belly Dance Costume



The Turkish belly dance costume is a two-piece outfit that reveals the abdominal area of a belly dancer. There are many ideas, theories, and myths about why this area of the body is exposed.

Use your creativity and imagine a tent stationed in a desert thousands of years ago. The dancers’ clothing is made of cotton. As the performers dances, their bodies turned warm, and for comfort, part of their clothing was cut to cool off. They also did not wear bras in those years. So the breasts and the abdominal areas were revealed through a shallow layer of cotton fabric.

It seems reasonable that this sensible solution to cooling down may have started the idea of a two-piece garment. As years passed, fabric availability, fashion trends, and women’s earnings, this costume has made many modifications.

Old photos of these outfits appear to be everyday attire and do not compare to today’s glittery and dazzling costumes. Turkish style of clothing is ideal for this type of dancing.

  1. It helps to illustrate and highlight chest, abdominal, and hip movements.
  2. Creation of more costume modifications by combining or subtracting accessories.
  3. The dress can be easily modified for folkloric or ethnic performances.
  4. Less costly than the Egyptian style.
  5. Easy to create, design, and stitch.

The gems of this style are the bra with its matching belt. A dancer invests typically in one traditional color, which is both gold or silver. As she evolves, other colors will be added to her wardrobe collection. The Turkish costume is wrapped with a belt and bra of coins, beads, or tassels. These decorations highlight movements and allow visual clues for observing muscle actions. The audience appreciates watching the beads move to a combination of slow or fast hip movements.

The harem pants, kilts, jackets, sleeves, veil, and other dresses allow color changing, a blend of wearing opportunities, giving the illusion of having many costumes.

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