Eman Zaki is often called the Coco Chanel of belly dance. In a studio just a few blocks from the Nile, she creates colorful costumes for clients in Egypt and around the world.
Eman Zaki, left, during a fitting for American belly dancer Alison Trow in her Cairo workshop. Trow was traveling from her New England home to Egypt for the first time. If you need a tiger-print mesh ensemble with a diamante halter top encrusted with fake pearls, she can make it. Same goes for a gold and fuchsia-tinted stretch pleather mermaid gown with opalescent paillettes.
Though much of her business comes through the internet, Zaki, who is 60, prefers to conceive costumes with clients in person at her atelier, located on a leafy, well-heeled block above a Suzuki motorcycle showroom. After climbing a dusty marble staircase, visitors are ushered into a parlor dimly lit by a beaux arts chandelier where workers tramp in and out carrying glasses of steaming tea.Eman Zaki speaks to seamstresses in her costume design workshop.
Glittery flotsam clutters every surface. Mountains of plastic bags spill open here and there to reveal a bejeweled bra strap or a gold tassel. Professionals are happy to pay $500 or more for one of Zaki’s custom-made costumes, which won’t pull or tear or fall apart on stage — every belly dancer’s nightmare.
Zaki, in a faded orange hoodie and jeans, moved her glasses from her head to her face and stood next to Nasri, both silently inspecting her reflection in the giant mirror. Zaki knows how to make a leg look longer with a strategically placed diagonal slit, or how to use lace rosettes to make a backside appear more curvaceous.
“Egyptians love music and singing, and they love belly dancers,” said Sarah Farouk, who moved here 20 years ago after becoming captivated with the art form. “But no one wants you to marry their son.” At first she tried making cushions and other fancy housewares. But it gradually dawned on her that “belly dancing was where I belong.”
The art form was exploding in Asia and Eastern Europe, spawning a new wave of performers who dreamed of dancing in Egypt’s capital. The 2011 Arab Spring uprising that ended a 30-year dictatorship only increased the allure. “In poor neighborhoods, you can still see girls dancing in the streets — even girls with hijabs,” she said. “It’s part of our culture.”
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