Thursday March 28th, 2024
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Rags for Riches: Meet Sayeda Eisha's Veteran Belly Dance Dress Designers

What started out as a humble task eventually took this couple to some sultry heights.

Staff Writer

A 70-year-old apartment sits sandwiched between its peers in Sayyeda Eisha, low-key, unassuming. Within the nooks and crannies of a married couple’s home, a merely 20-metre wide ramshackle workshop sets the stage. Sequins, beads, embroidery and threads fill the shelves surrounding an endearingly old sewing machine. Across it, a mannequin stands tall, donning an authentic, handmade belly dancing dress. Without neither skill nor knowledge nor talent to burst into that scene, the couple only had sheer willpower; and it made for some interesting storytelling.

“It all started when an acquaintance offered me a job packing embroidery beads. I kept at it for months until she popped in with ready-made dancing dresses; telling me they only need some embroidery.” It was here that Om Aya’s bedazzled tale began – having been in the business for 15 years, telling her tale at 53 years of age. “I remember being good with a needle when I was young, so I decided to give it a go. She liked the first dress I did, so she capitalised on my talent; bringing in several dresses each weak. She’d give me a dress, I do my thing, hand it back to her to sell and get my earnings.”

After about a year, Om Aya’s associate offered her design position; making her own dresses from scratch and splitting revenue 50-50. With the woman supplying all the necessary material, and Om Aya pouring her talents over a workstation, they started their stride in business. However, it wasn’t long till Om Aya felt used. “She’d proven to me how untrustworthy she was; not giving me my pay was a frequent issue for example. It didn’t take too long for the merchants themselves to come into direct contact with me; one of them did, and we’ve been working together fair and square ever since.”

A Simple Hobby Becomes an Empire

With time doing what it does best, Om Aya’s deft hands became constant in their motion, and demand continued to overwhelm supply. Realising that she couldn’t keep up on her own, she opened a humble workshop along with hiring craftspeople to work under her. “A tailor sits on his machine, and a craftsman assists with finishing up a dress. That’s how it went for the first 8 months, but then I found myself at a deficit; the workers were sloppy, and had a knack for procrastination. So naturally, my dresses started dwindling in terms of quality, and I felt like depending on craftspeople rather than I alone was more of a loss than a strategic decision – one that should have been logical.”

Om Aya had to think something up to stem the flow of lost revenue, and how to keep her workers in line. “My husband started supervising them after he’d return from his job. He’d stay up till 2 AM until they sorted everything out with the dresses. But then I wondered why they needed supervision when they were getting paid to do what they did? Especially seeing as a tailor earns EGP 1600, while my husband earns EGP 850. I started wondering who truly belonged to work with me.”

850 for a Day Job? Or 1600 for a Handicraft?

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve been working as a driver in the private sector, but I had to stick by Om Aya’s side when her business started taking off.” Mahmoud Ali Hassan – Om Aya’s Husband and associate – tells us his side of the story. “I started off just watching over the craftspeople and busting their metaphorical balls for shoddy craft. I was more than just patient with them, all the while learning about what they did and how they did it. I found myself doing what they did better, allowing me to leave my main job, and open my own independent workshop.”

“We became the craftspeople we needed, and we’d do everything properly from A to Z.” Om Aya remarks as she takes the reigns of the conversation. “My husband has been working with me for 10 years so far, and he’s outdone himself; taking over the workshop and working on the outfits himself. I‘d take the finished product and sell it out of a showroom I’d opened; it’s far better to deal with your customers personally.”

 

How is a Dress Made? And How Long Does it Take?

“I take the bottom measurements first, then the waist, then below and above the bust. These are the essential measurements that I need before doing anything. After I get my maths right, I give them to my husband.” Remarked Om Aya on her process, with Mahmoud picking up his part of the process right after: “I make the belt out of Vaseline as well as the upper part of the dress, the workers then take it and start embroidering them. A dress starts off with me, and then it passes through multiple people. Others can do my job easily, but there are things that they just can’t endure like I can. Embroidery isn’t something I’m thrilled about for example, but they are, whereas I’m more adept at working with belts, as opposed to them.

After Mahmoud hands the belt over to Om Aya, she then takes over the detailing and embroidery. She passes it to one of the girls that work for her so she could work on it, then when it comes time for fit and finish, Om Aya takes the reigns.

A question presented itself, however, with regards to the dress-making process as a whole: Each individual piece has had several people work on it, guaranteeing it comes out as tasteful as it can be. Om Aya shed some light on the matter; saying that the girls she has working for her – all 15 of them -  help her tremendously when it comes to the embroidery process. Om Aya gives them the basic outfits and they handle the details, they don’t have a designated workstation to convene in either; each girl works from home. They then give Om Aya the finished product on the exact same time she needs it. “I mostly need them for specific jobs, not taking care of a whole dress from start to finish; neither do I let them finish up an outfit. This is so that they don’t start blabbing about my designs to people outside, so I always leave a few things incomplete on their end that only I can do. Not just anybody knows how a dress will turn out.” She pointed at a typical dress of hers adorned with sequins, butterflies and beads as an example; the butterflies, for example, are worked on by one girl, not knowing what Om Aya does after they’re done.

Tricks of the Trade

There are many, many factors that go into designing a good belly dancing dress. “From experience, whenever I see a dancer, I know what dress works best for them, in terms of fit and flourish. The way their bodies are structured impacts a lot of variables; like height, bust size and waistline.” Om Aya has a lot of haute wisdom to share it seems. “It’s not just the physique that matters, it’s the tone of skin as well; it defines what colours are going to go into the dress. If I’m dealing with somebody much more fair skinned than average (let’s say white), darker colours and shades would fit perfectly, accentuating her overall appeal. Orange, however, does not work at all with brighter skint ones; it only works on darker tones so that there’s contrast between the dancer and the dress. Colours can do wonders for the complexion.”

Local or Bust

In a report by the New York Times released not too long ago, it was revealed that belly dancing in Egypt is at risk of being dominated by foreign performers, as opposed to local talents. The most exemplary local dancer there is – according to the report – would have to be Dina, and it was a sentiment that Om Aya echoed. Sure, foreign dancers are good, but they’re not artists: “You can find a dancer that does more than just dance; she engrosses you in her performance, showing off the intricacies of a mesmerising act, as opposed to just flaunting her stuff. If I could turn back time, though, I’ll always prefer Naeema Akef and Samia Gamal over anybody else.”

The Belly Dance design industry is one of continuous development; with newer trends popping up every day. “Dresses from back in the day were all beads and bedazzling for the most part, but now you have multi-coloured stones, shiny crystals and a lot more bits and baubles in the scene. Today’s dancers don’t wear simple, vintage outfits anymore, and for what it’s worth, my two cents in the development process were using stones, crystals and other shiny odds and ends on the sequins and beads themselves. I also made a belt entirely made out of coloured diamonds. I try to come up with new ideas as much as I can, and I haven’t made a habit of settling on one design. An outfit is an outfit no matter what, the difference is the detailing, and the material you use on the belt especially, that’s the major difference.”

Om Aya takes a stroll around town to do some research of her own; scouting storefronts and shops for the latest and greatest in new models. She takes what she needs from today’s designs and works in some of her own magic for a fresh spin. “Sometimes I find these newer models lacking, so I fill in the gaps with what I have in mind at the time. It goes without saying in any business endeavour that keeping with the times becomes a necessity, because you can’t just depend on your opinions alone.”

Where Stands Religion?

For time immemorial, there has been no mention of dancing being expressly haram in Islam. However, it’s quite frowned upon between most scholars, especially when accompanied by similarly-stigmatised items. Belly dancing outfits typically don’t have much in the way of subtlety; exposing vast swathes of skin for all to see. Perhaps a glance at a relevant Fatwa might prove to be useful.

At the same time, there hasn’t been a single fatwa expressly shunning belly dancing outfits, which prompted us to ask Om Aya about the kind of comments she gets from those more pious. “It’s common for many to tell me that my vocation is haram. But in my eyes, I base whether or not it’s sinful according to where it goes. For example; if I were to deliver it to a girl working at a cabaret after fitting her and everything, that wouldn’t be OK with me. That’s why I work with the market as a whole; folks buy my items for whatever purpose they have, and I have nothing to do with it past bagging and tagging it. Whether it’s for spicing up the bedroom, dancing at a casino, it’s not my concern as a creator. People regard belly dancers with the same respect as artists, and honestly, I don’t know how I’d feel if one of them came to me personally for a fitting. I know what I’m doing isn’t exactly encouraged, but it’s what I have.”

So long as it has even the vaguest connotation of sin, folks will rally against it in a violent fervour. To say that Om Aya and Mahmoud haven’t had their fair share of heat and accusations would be a gross understatement. Thankfully, they’re always prepared, according to Mahmoud anyway: “I’ve never been ashamed of what I do, and when anybody asks me what I do for a living, I’m completely honest about it. I design belly dancing outfits. People would come up to me to browse what we had on my phone, others would come to ask for dresses for their wives, so I send them to Om Aya to hash things out.”

Om Aya was much the same as Mahmoud; never shying away from talking about her profession, not once seeing it as something shameful regardless of how people often view her. “I’m not embarrassed of my work because not just anybody can do it; it’s a craft that takes skill and dedication, not just manual labour. My line of work has some serious innovators and visionaries, and at the same time, a sea of imitators, and neither aren’t guaranteed to make it bit. The ones that do pull through know how to breathe life into a dress, and I feel it safe to say that I have that talent, and I love my work. You’re always bound to get a negative comment or two in any line of work.”

Through 30 years of marriage – including 15 years of tireless craft – Mahmoud and Om Aya have never had any work-related qualms or quarrels, because everybody knows their place in the grand scheme of things. They’ve had customers of all calibres and backgrounds depend on their wares; from big name dress merchants to bazar owners, fun-loving brides to schools where belly dancing performances are popular, and even foreigners who export the outfits. They’re still brimming with hopes and dreams of settling down in their craft, and of this period of tepid stagnation passing. Perchance that their little apartment workshop would transform into a massive production line, with many job opportunities to follow.

Originally published on ElFasla
Written by Heba Radi
Translated by Ahmed Ikram

Shoot by @MO4Network's #MO4Productions
Photography by 
Ashraf Hamed