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Bedlah, Baubles and Beads
My new book, Bedlah, Baubles and Beads is now
completed and debuted at Rakkasah West 2001. The manuscript is
at the printers and will be available for general release the
first week of May. Since Rakkasah, e-mail has been pouring in
with questions about the 'rumors of a new book' or requests for
more information and even a few orders! Since this book consumed
the last six months of my life, I would like to take a moment
to share this project with you.
With two books already under my belt, Costuming from
the Hip and From Turban to Toe Ring, I
was able to tailor this new book based on feed back from my other
publications. What's new in the new book? More illustrations
for one! With well over 325 illustrations and diagrams, the book
is cram packed with images. I spent months drawing, redrawing
and then, just to be sure everything was covered, and I drew
some more pictures. I drew all of the internal illustrations.
The very talented illustrator, Conrad "Lynx" Wong,
created a beautiful, if idealized, portrait of me for the cover
art!
Bedlah is my "cabaret" book as some
folks have begun calling it, in contrast to Turban,
my "tribal" book. Bedlah is the term that I prefer
for the elaborately crafted, beaded bra and belt sets worn by
dancers worldwide. This is the uniform of the Middle Eastern
dance professional and is the first image most of the public
conjure when they visualize a belly dancer. Along with dresses,
tunics and a host of accessories and accent garments, this book
is all about crafting a costume look that includes sumptuous
fabrics and beaded details with the shine of sequins, paillettes
and rhinestones.
But this book is more than just a set of directions for putting
together bras and belts. There are many books, pamphlets, videos
and other resources available with information on constructing
a bra and belt set. There are even web sites with invaluable
tips and hints, sites that are free and available at any time
of the day and night. Why buy another book? Would I buy another
book on the subject? What could I add that would set this book
apart? With these and a host of other questions guiding me, I
developed an idea that soon coalesced into the finished book,
Bedlah, Baubles and Beads.
So, I delved into my experiences teaching sewing and design
at the college level, and I realized that the essential guiding
principles of design have never really been presented within
the context of Middle Eastern dance costume. While there are
many design professionals working within the world of ME dance
today, I find that most of my books are owned by women of all
backgrounds with a variety of different goals from saving money
to expressing their own creativity. The common denominator
Everyone wants to look GREAT!
Let me give you a quick summary of subjects covered in my
new book and a peek at some of the illustrations.
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Chapter 1 is a brief summary of dance costume in the US over
the past hundred and twenty years. While I could have easily
written an entire book that traced the evolution of dance costume,
I contained my exuberance for this subject near and dear to my
heart and squeezed the highlights into a single chapter.
Early 20th century costume in the style of Ruth St. Denis.
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Chapter 2 presents the most popular stylistic themes
within the world of dance costume today.
Indian style costume made from elaborately embroidered sari
cloth.
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Chapter 3, I feel, is one of the most important chapters
of the book, where I introduce the principles and elements of
design and provide examples of how this information can be used
to design Middle Eastern dance wear.
Costume ensemble that illustrates the pinciples of rhythm
and unity.
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Chapters 4 and 5 are about the process of design, ways
of thinking, techniques for developing designs and the steps
necessary to take a concept to a final costume.
Clip book filled with inspirational photos and sketches to
use as a design tool.
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Chapter 6 is takes the principles in chapter 3 and the
techniques for design in 4 and 5 and applies them to body analysis.
This section explores the ways that line and shape can either
emphasize or de-emphasize features of the body to achieve the
desired results.
Bra design styled to emphasize the shoulders and draw attention
to the bustline.
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Part II - Bedlah Construction and
Embellishment
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Chapter 7 focuses on bra construction. From choosing
the perfect bra base to covering, restructuring and manipulating
the cups to achieve the best results, this chapter goes from
lingerie bra base to finished costume bra.
Y-style bra straps which mimic a halter without the pressure
on the neck. Here decorated with three appliques.
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Chapter 8 is all about belts. This book introduces a
draping method for making a custom fit belt base that shapes
and conforms to each dancers individual curves. From building
the belt base to reinforcing it, covering it and lining it, this
chapter is filled with lots of hints and tips for achieving a
good fit.
Belt with decorative straps that draw attention to the upper
hips and create a sexy cut-out effect.
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Chapter 9 introduces the materials and tools required
to do complex surface embellishments. From beads and sequins
to fringe, mirrors, rhinestones and more, this chapter is a catalog
and shopping list for the supplies needed to do beading and other
surface embellishment techniques.
Top left: Sew and glue on gems.
Top Right: Assorted thimble styles.
Bottom: Thread for stiching on beads.
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Chapter 10 perhaps the meatiest chapter in the book introduces
the most common and popular stitches for applying beads and making
custom fringe. There are numerous illustrations to accompany
the text.
Step-by-step illustrations for creating a beaded swag with
a central drop.
Step A - String half the beads of the swag onto the thread.
Step B - Add the beads for the drop.
Step C - Pass the needle and thread back up through the drop
portion.
Step D - String the rest of the swag onto the thread and
stitch to cloth.
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Chapter 11 introduces techniques for developing beaded designs
using clip art. By taking line art and manipulating it to fit
the costume and then developing a map for bead placement, beautifully
complex designs can be developed without needing to know how
to draw!
Top: Radiating beading pattern
Lower Left: Geometric beading pattern
Lower Right: Scatter beading pattern
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Part III Completing the Look
The final section of Bedlah introduces some of the supporting,
accessory and accent garments that complete the look of the costume.
Here are some representative images from the various chapters.
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Chapter 13
Accent garments used to embellish a basic ensemble.
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Chapter 14
Dresses are a lovely alternative to the standard bedlah bra
and belt set.
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Chapter 15
Coordinated and matched accessory sets can give an ensemble
a finished and professional look.
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A
B
C
D