Beadilicious Bellydance

Hi All!

Today I'm back with belly dance costumery for the amazing Hilde Cannoodt, who today is flying into the country for her fitting (and maybe a little rest) then jetting off again. Oh, the life of an international belly dance star!

If you would like to see how this costume was coming along from last time please see the Shimmy shimmy Shake those hips blog. I know I jump around a bit with my posts but that is because I am usually working on at least five projects all at once.

This is where we stand with Hilde's latest costume, which has been made from her mothers wedding dress. I'm still playing with some of the design elements and there is still loads more sparkle to add but the ground work is nearly all done.

Hilde Cannoodt: Truely Tribal

When one of Brighton's belly dance stars Hilde Cannoodt asked me to make her a costume I was very excited.

We took as inspiration Hilde's favourite colour wine, flamenco ruffles and Russian folk filigree jewellery. The costume was to include bra, belt, trousers, skirt and hair accessories and has to be striking, co-ordinated and unconventional.

The belt and bra were made of a thick brocade strong enought to support the heavy coins and beads that would complete the costume.
Taffeta was used for the skirt and ruffles and made a gorgeous sound as it moved.
The embroidery I designed from some Russian filigree jewellery, that I greatly simplified to make it as bold as possible and was done using a hoop, an ordinary satin stitch and a lot of patience. The final touches were coins and jewellery recycled from some of Hilde's old costumes and some bone and metal beads appropriate to the design.


Hilde wearing her finished costume ( photo by Russell Wood)

For information on Hilde's classes and performances