Algerian Urban Costume Step 1: Research

It is one of the worst of my habits not to finish one project before starting the next one... so here I am again.

My fingers have been itching a long time for this and since the other dancing ladies have expressed their interest to work on Algerian Andalusian Dance I am heading to this adventure right now.

The costume-to-be should represent the festive attire of a high-class lady from Algier roughly in the middle of the 19th century in order to create a choreography on classical Algerian Andaloussi Music (explanation will follow...)

The fabulous book of Leyla Belkaid: Costumes d'Algerie, Edtions du Layeur, Paris 2003 offers deep historical explanations and many historical photographs related to this issue.

Below are a couple of variations of a late 19th- early 20th century style of indoor clothing.

 

The first part to explore were the trousers. This particular style is called "serouel m'douar" and is used also nowadays with a slightly different silhouette; as modern ladies want to look more slim they use less and more delicate fabric.

For the historical garments thick and heavy jaquard textiles have been used for the trousers, most probably silk. Nowadays you can use upholstery fabric which has similar characteristics and is relatively cheap.
And here you can see a modern serouel m'douar:

(picture credit: here.)

In the next post I will show you how to sew such a serouel.