What Do I Pay For When I Buy an Oriental Dance Costume?
Author: Catarina Fevereiro
The easiest question to ask to explain the price of designer Oriental Dance costumes is: what do I pay for when I'm buying an Oriental Dance dress? From this question I can list several topics that will lead you to understand the reason why designer costumes have certain prices.
When you buy a suit, most of the time the price is broken down into two parameters: material and labor, as they are those who, in a simple and direct way, list all the services for which you pay.
First I tell you about the most visible, the Material
It is important to know that when you pay for the material you are paying for something that the designer has already had the opportunity to test and study to make sure it is the most correct for your costume. The material of a costume usually (unless you wear something out of the ordinary) is fabric, applications and trims.
2. Fabric
There are several types of fabrics that we use in making the suits, from lycra, knitwear, chiffon, mousseline, satin, sequin, lace, velvet, silk ... the sky is the limit. But there is a factor common to all, its quality. What often distinguishes the price of a suit is the quality of the fabric that is used. As they say “When the fabric is good, the work is little”, because the quality of the fabric speaks for itself, and just because the fabric has a good shine, a good fall, a good touch, it will make a big difference between a professional or amateur Oriental Dance costume.
3. Applications
One of the things that shines the most on stage and most requested for that reason is the applications. The applications can only be direct stones in the suit, or stones on a surface (such as lace or felt) that is then applied to the costume.
Like everything else, the price varies between good and poor quality stones. If you buy a costume and ask for Swarovski or Preciosa crystals (for example) you will have much more shine on stage, but of course it will make your suit more expensive (way more!). To get an idea I put the same product on the table: think of a wallet of 288 hotfix crystals (with glue on the back to be applied with a pen that melts the glue), in which each crystal is 6.5 mm in diameter (technical size SS30 ). This Swarovski brand wallet costs € 56.80, the Preciosa brand costs € 38.90, and in a Chinese Bazaar Shop costs €5!
4. Trims
What are trims? It is often the material that you "least see" in the costume, such as rubber bands, lines, bottom of the top, fasteners for the top. And those that you don't see at all but that are also used to make your suit like basic sewing materials, needles, pins, measuring tape, sewing machine, scissors, etc ...
5. Then I speak of what you do not see, but without it you would not have any fact, the Labor.
When you pay for the labor you are paying not only for the job of sewing the costume: you are paying for many other services that at first do not seem related to the costume but that have everything to do with it. This is probably the parameter you pay for that most dignifies the designer's work and most distinguishes a professional designer from an amateur designer.
Glue application on the top of a Baladi costume.
6. Production
The production of the costume is all the work involved in making it, as simple as: creating, cutting, basting and sewing. Of course it encompasses many more processes but these are the basic ones to be able to make a garment. Many designers can adjust the price of the costume to your budget on this topic, through the work done on the applications. The price of the costume varies (and a lot!) depending on how your applications are worked. The designer can glue your diamonds (the smallest of all there is no turning back, they will always be glued because there is no other way) or sew. The difference is here because the glued diamonds give much less work to be applied, but they also don't last as long and can come off easily, unlike the stitches that last longer in the suit but require much more work in their application.
7. Training & Experience
For the designer to be able to make your costume she had to spend money and time learning how to do it through training/sewing courses, fashion, drawing, among others. She had to experiment with materials, test techniques, correct errors. She had to learn to observe the various types of bodies and understand how to bring out the most beautiful of each one. And she had to work on her creative ability, to be able to visualize your idea and to be able to advise you and show you what she thinks is best for you.
Fevereiro brand suit, worn by herself at Oriental Dance Weekend 2019 festival.
8. Personalization & Individuality
When you order a costume from a designer, you are paying the factor of being a costume that suits your personal taste, your body and exclusive. Which is more than special because you will not have anyone else on stage with a costume like yours (unless it is a group order, or another seamstress has copied your model 100% ...).
9. Costume Fittings
A good professional should always do, at least one fitting, to rectify that the costume fit you like a glove! If everything is impeccable in the first fitting, believe that we are happy as if we won the lottery! The normal thing is, after the first fitting, there are some rectifications to be made, such as the hem, tightening/widening elastics, placing or removing filling from the chest, or adding something that you didn't ask for before but you would even like the costume to have! But you have to be careful and trust the designer, there is a limit of tests to be done and changes to be requested. We must take into consideration the poor designer who has already put so much dedication into the suit. In my small brand Fevereiro I include two tests and the corrections to be made in the final price. After that, if the tests are due to the client's negligence or changes that were not in the original order, then I will already charge for the fitting and rectification.
Shaabi costume by February brand, worn by Catarina Branco at the International Gala of the Dancing World festival, in 2019.
10. Communication
To find out about the designer's work, you had to get to know her somewhere, and often you see her through social media or through her website. Also through festivals, where there is not only the bank in he bazaar but the travel costs to the festival. Allied to this there is a whole graphic and visual work in terms of posters, business cards, catalogs, photo sessions. All this so that the work of the designer reaches you in the most agile way and adapted to you.
11. Management
Bills, lots of bills! Yes, we have a lot of accounting and finance work to do to make sure there is no room for error, both for the client and for the designer.
It was a big list! But believe me that I haven't listed everthing: things like transportation costs, time on cell phone/e-mail talking to suppliers and placing orders! The truth is that if I were to list everything here, you would never end reading this post, and I am sure the designers who have been in the business for longer than I could still add some more topics that I missed!
I hope that this explanation will help you to understand why Belly Dance costumes have high values, and that it will warm the hearts of our dear designers who do so much behind the scenes so that your talent is accompanied by a costume to match!
Catarina Fevereiro is an Oriental Dance dancer and fashion designer and has a brand with her nickname, Fevereiro. She follows her work as a dancer on her Youtube channel and follows her work as a fashion designer on her Instagram!
