When to ignore Coco Chanel

She may have been the queen bee of fashion in her time but her famous quote, “When accessorizing, always take off the last thing you put on.” – Coco Chanel really doesn’t hold well as advice for belly dancers.   In fact, I would go as far to recommend most dancers that are starting out in performance to do the exact opposite!! “When accessorizing for performance, always add at least one more item of fabulousness” - Jade The reason I say this is because the majority of dancers I see at student Haflas and amateur performance evenings are somewhat underdone. I certainly was when I started out, I was so clueless that I turned up to my first performance in exactly the outfit the teacher said – without any make- up, jewellery or accessories! When I started looking at photos of myself performing I began to notice the difference between what I looked like and what the pros look like and accessories were a big part of what was missing.

We are accustom to seeing ourselves in our every day street wear and stage make-up and jewellery can look so over the top. There is a tendency to put something on, then think you look silly, and do Coco Chanel and take it back off again. I think the biggest classic is to do nothing with your hair and make it look like the costuming ends at the neck. This is easily fixed with a little flower, scarf or some of the endless hair accessories cheaply available on eBay. For tribal I would say add 2 extra accessories! For oriental – if you have a pro costume you will need less but earrings, a ring or 2 and a necklace and bracelet are pretty standard. You don’t want to look like you just chucked your outfit on and ran out of the door.

My favourite accessory is almost always a necklace, bold necklaces are my signature look, I am pretty partial to upper arm accessories too and they have the added bonus as being perceived as being exotic. Yes, there is often 1 or 2 women at an event that have poured half a bottle of eyeliner on their face and worn every item of jewellery in their possession but I find they are the exception not the rule and honestly at least they gave being bold and commanding a try.   What’s your favourite accessory? Do you agree with Coco? Please comment below?