This one of a kind creation hold such a special place in my heart. Creating Malika, which means queen in arabic, was my opportunity to make something a modern day Malika would wear. An outfit that would symbolize the power a Malika holds while embracing a feminine ethereal aura.
Bringing Malika to life took over a month for me. It began with looking at some old belly dancing outfits, from the 80's and 90's, constant sketches, playing with different shapes and understanding the overall design. My brain felt like it was a computer at times just scanning through the multitutde of options I had to choose from designing this. From deciding overall colors, shape of the bra and pendants on the hips, type of fabric to use. One thing I knew for sure; I wanted it to be dripping in gold. Like looking at a real ancient Egyptian queen covered in beautifully sculpted gold. The next step is to do research, how can I execute this? After days of research, I discovered something called thermoplastics, which is a plastic you can melt down at a high temperature and sculpt like clay, but when it hardens it is strong and supportive. This was perfect to give me the structure I needed. So I purchased some, sketched out a few ideas, and dove into sculpting for the first time in my life. And let me tell you, it is not as easy as I thought it would be. It took me so many hours of pure focus, and lots of trial and error. After multiple days of very long sculpting sessions, I finished the bra and hip pendants and painted them. The next step was beading, all of it is hand beaded with labradorite and amethyst beads, with gold glass beads. This was such a fun experience because I never considered making my own gold beads and mixing and matching. After creating the beads, I added this beautiful silk chiffon fabric as a skirt, and as the straps for the top and choker. Seeing this project come all together from the inspiration and day dreaming to actually in my hands is such an accomplishing feeling. I feel as if I poured my heart and soul into this creation, and I'm so thankful for the lessons I learned along the way.
If you're still here, thank you for joining me in this journey! <3
This top will fit a band size 34-36 with a cup size B-C, fitting C the best. There will be under boob showing with this top. The cups are reinforced with rings and being pulled by the silk fabric used on the skirt behind the neck and back. This skirt will fit sizes 4-8 comfortably, fitting size 6 the best. Please see the last picture for measurements.
If you have any questions or concerns send me a message and i'll get back to you as soon as possible!