REVIEWS ON THIS PAGE: TURKISH ORIENTAL; EGYPTIAN SHOP;
TREASURES OF BELLYDANCING; BELLY BAZAAR; MEDINA BAZAAR

Pharoanic Style Collar The Egyptian Shop is an online shop selling a nice range of goods imported from Egypt; statuette, papyrus, personalised cartouches, perfume bottles, leather goods, silver jewellery, pipes and bongs (shisha's - might be useful to those of you who want to do a Fifi!) as well as a selection of jewellery and accessories for belly dancers; earrings, necklaces, zills, coin chain belts, hip scarves and loose coins. What I really like about this site is their prices....which are VERY reasonable especially for their hip scarfs and loose coins; I think the prices are quite competitive. Also they have a nice links section to places that stock stencils and wallpapers if you're thinking of decorating your home Egyptian style. If you click on any of the items on their website you will see a really clear, detailed closeup photo. They ship worldwide (contact them via their website for shipping costs) and also list the weight for each item, and the measurements for each hip scarf, which is helpful. If you're a vendor or teacher, they can also do wholesale. Their goods come well packaged and are sent out first class post. This is a lovely Ancient Egyptian style collar decorated with beads and scarabs which is perfect for those Pharoanic pieces, fancy dress or can be worn just for fun. It is nicely made with strong twine which seems to hold all the beads together well and feels solidly made so I don't think it will fall apart after five minutes. It looks effective close up as well as at a distance. Also, it sits very nicely flat on the neckline and is very comfortable to wear. I've got a small to medium neck and it fits fine, if your neck is a bit bigger it should still fit fine, but will just sit a little higher up on the collar bone. You can see a clear, close up image of this necklace here; just click on the picture of the collar on the Egyptian shop website. Why struggle to make one when you can buy something as beautifully ready made as this?

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Triangular Hip Scarf The Egyptian Shop is an online shop selling a nice range of goods imported from Egypt; statuette, papyrus, personalised cartouches, perfume bottles, leather goods, silver jewellery, pipes and bongs (shisha's - might be useful to those of you who want to do a Fifi!) as well as a selection of jewellery and accessories for belly dancers; earrings, necklaces, zills, coin chain belts, hip scarves and loose coins. What I really like about this site is their prices....which are VERY reasonable especially for their hip scarfs and loose coins; I think the prices are quite competitive. Also they have a nice links section to places that stock stencils and wallpapers if you're thinking of decorating your home Egyptian style. If you click on any of the items on their website you will see a really clear, detailed closeup photo. They ship worldwide (contact them via their website for shipping costs) and also list the weight for each item, and the measurements for each hip scarf, which is helpful. If you're a vendor or teacher, they can also do wholesale. Their goods come well packaged and are sent out first class post. This triangular scarf is lightweight (less likely to slip from around your hips than heavier scarves!), very comfortable and different. It has mainly small coins but has lovely accents of large coins that you can see in the photo which give this scarf an extraodinary sound; it tinkles very loudly, but the sound isn't harsh or metallic sounding, instead it really does sound like lots of tiny little bells jingling as you dance. The crochet work has been nicely finished off with several rows of matching gold beads, and the chiffon is beautiful quality. Also, as the scarf has ties, so you won't have to worry about damaging any coins on this belt while dancing in it, which means you're less likely to lose any! Wonderful to dance in. You can see a clear, close up image of the scarf here; just click on the picture of the scarf on the Egyptian shop website.

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TREASURES OF BELLY DANCING -

Beledi dress I've recently received a beledi dress from this website, I was attracted to them by the style of the baladi dress, and the price with shipping worked out to approximately £39. (Shipping for the dress was $15). Although they are based in India, they ship worldwide (check with them for shipping costs first) and their prices are in American dollars; as they accept Paypal (online payment service), they are really very easy to order from and I found them to be really friendly and helpful. They told me they have a complete professional and a dedicated set up for manufacturing bellydance products and employ of 30 workers which include tailors, hand embroiderers, machine embroiderers, crochet...etc. Since they are a manufacturer, they can give the flexibility of offering custom made costumes with a range of more than 40 colors in fabrics. They told me they can offer costumes at lower cost as they eliminate the middle man. They sell a range of cabaret dresses, skirt and veil sets, a range of tribal wear, and bellydance accessories, as well as traditional Indian costumes. Their costumes are be dispatched in 10 - 12 days after ordering and it takes 3 working days for the courier to reach UK. The dress arrived as promised by courier, it wasn't packaged wonderfully but it arrived here safely in one piece. For the price, the dress is pretty good value, all the patterns you see on the dress are sequins and this dress has *a lot* of them and the sequin patterns have been sewn on very securely, and they don't drop off at all. The dress is made from soft satin; in terms on the rest of the sewing and fabric quality you get what you pay for; this is a budget or student baladi dress which will look very effective on stage which is available in a large range of colours. The company were very easy to deal with and did everything they said they would. They also do wholesale.

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BELLY BAZAAR -

Galabaya I've recently received a cotton galabaya from Belly Bazaar - I've found them to be friendly and helpful, their goods are extremely well packaged and arrived in superfast time. It was priced at 12.50 GBP including P+P which I thought was a good price. Based in the UK, this site is something different - a selection of their goods are sold by an online auction (it seems easy enough to use) and it's possible at the moment for others to auction off their own items for free on the website with no auction fees. People who register onto the auction site will receive a newsletter and be informed of any "instant sales or bargains" before they are auctioned to ensure they don't miss out on possible bargains. They also have an online shop selling costume items such as hipscarves, sequinned and beaded tops, and skirts imported from Egypt and accessories. They do ship anywhere in the world (e-mail Bridget through the website for overseas shipping costs.)

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Kaftan I recently received a kaftan from this site - they have a good range available online. I found them to be helpful and friendly, their goods were well packaged and arrived quickly. The kaftan is very pretty and has been sewn really nicely with good quality materials - it would be great to wear at a hafla! Their website really has the most amazing range of North African goods I've ever seen. They have a huge amount of stuff mainly from Tunisia and Morocco. They have lots of things that dancers would be interested in; a wonderful range of kaftans priced from £24 upwards and they also stock two piece bellydance costumes very, very reasonably priced at £45 (see their fine products page) as well as slippers and Moroccan jewellery. They also stock lanterns, decorative plates, tea glasses, pouffes, tables, tapestries, kelims, pottery, shesha, linens, paintings; everything imaginable for giving your home Arabic style. They are based in the UK and will ship anywhere in the world (e-mail them for shipping costs). They have been given really amazing write-ups in both the Daily Mail (UK newspaper) and the "Real Homes" magazine March 2003 issue (UK). They also do wholesale.

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