Its That Tribal Festing Time Again!

         Salomes' Suitcase Trunk Show!
             Wearable Treasure To Inspire Your Dance!

Its time once again for your Tribal Fest pilgrimage!

Held every year in the lovely town of Sebastopol, California, Kajira Djoumahna and her husband Chuck throw down the most amazing Tribal Belly Dance event of the year - of anywhere on the planet. Many of the members of Salome's Suitcase have participated and supported this festival since its infancy.  Some of us have been performers. Some of us have been vendors.  Some of us do both!  We are having a Trunk Show this time at the Fairfield Inn - just down the road where many of you will be staying! Good Times!

Tribal Fest is now on its 11th successful year of bringing you the newest, the best, and the brightest of the global Tribal Belly Dance Community.  People make the pilgrimage from all around the globe to shop, to vend, to teach, to study, and to perform.  This is where you will see the new trends being introduced and developed.  This is where you can meet the designers, the movers, the shakers, the performers and the fans - we are all fans - the splendor is overwhelming!  How can we not be!

Once again, Salome's Suitcase brings you our latest selection of original handcrafted garments and adornments in an environment filled with ambiance and Oldie Worldie charm!  We understand a dancer's needs and we love nothing more than helping you enhance your practice and stage presence.  Many of our pieces have huge crossover appeal and versatility, thus enabling you much room to round out your wardrobe!

Not only is the Fairfield Inn a very convenient location (not far from the actual event) for most, but trying on clothing will be a dream!  Our hours should allow most of you the time to stop by, hang out, say hi, shop 'til you drop, take a break from the overwhelm and then get back to the festivities!

We will see you there! We Cant Wait!!!!

(just click on these flyers for a better view!)

 

Salome's Suitcase Trunk Show
~Thursday May 19th 3pm - 10pm
~Friday May 20th 2pm - 10pm
~Saturday May 21st 2pm - 10pm

Fairfield Inn Conference Room
1101 Gravenstein Hwy. South
Sebastopol, Ca 95472

Email us if you have questions!
salomes.suitcase@gmail.com

Vending Season is upon us!

Members of Salome's' Suitcase often vend together as a collective, and some of us prefer to vend on our own as our own entities...... ....sometimes we do both at the same events and sometimes we take breaks to pursue our other interests...... but our main mission is to make  unique items, aim for the best quality, give you the best bang for the buck, and utilize the best use of our individual artistic talents to produce a garment, adornment, photograph, accessory - the best that you have ever seen. Customer service is very important to us!

 For those who don't know this, Salome's Suitcase came to be when some of us were invited into a design group on a social network.  On being asked some very straightforward yet simple business like questions, this group didn't seem to be going in the same direction as us and caused those of us who had been invited some disappointment - it had seemed like such a great idea!  This led one of us to have a light bulb appear over her head and she started her own private Professional Belly Dance Designer group that we could "chat" on. We all either knew each other or had been admiring each others work from afar................and this led bit by bit to Salome's Suitcase - similar taste. Similar aesthetics. Similar high standards. Yet with our own individual styles and unique artisan tastes. We just click. Not intending to be a "clique", we just click. We work well together. And as any vendor knows: it is really hard to find the right people who get how hard selling in the public eye to the public actually is.  Many of us have been or are involved in being part of dance troupes..........it feels like much the same kind of thing. Its all a lot of work and the benefits are worth it.

 We are sometimes approached by designers and artisans asking to be included into our group, or wondering how we go about deciding who gets in. Well, the thing is, we are still a fairly young group and you know what they say about a group that grows too fast...........all chaos can ensue.......some of us have seen it happen within dance troupes.  We strive to be taken seriously as business women AND have fun at the same time, but a foundation has got to be laid first. This is what we are doing. We are pouring the "concrete" for our collective. You cannot build a strong house without a sturdy foundation. You cannot look good in many garments without the proper foundation..........its all about the foundation. Our collective has monthly meetings (or more) that require a certain amount of commitment. This requires some travel and expense. We are continually developing marketing strategies plus new techniques to further our individual growth. As small business owners in a highly competitive market, we support each other in our endeavors. Maybe one of these days we can have new members - I think this would be welcomed by all.  It isn't that there are not some amazing artists that would be lovely to work with, but right now, things are as they should be. We have discussed issues like having guest vendors come along with us for certain events. And this seems like a good idea. The event and the number of members involved will determine who will fit and what our booth can handle.

As you can see, our tables and racks are usually very full of wondrous goodies as it is! Minerva's Antennae!

 This lovely photo was taken seeking refuge from a cold snap during our winter road trip to Fort Worth Texas. And I mean COLD - we had no heater! We didn't kill each other. But we suffered. I aged 20 years, and we still found humor in the situation. Well, one of us did. Ok - it was Lee Kobus from Foolproof Studio.

 We stand United: Katherine Summer O'Neal and Fool Proof Studio guarding the store.........here is the gang vending below at Tribal Fusion Fair............

We laugh and sometimes we cry:

 

But we always mean business: Black Lotus Clothing.........don't do this at home!!!!!!!!!

Salome's' Suitcase is group of strong talented women who's aim is to bring you the best of the best: of the best of the best.................for your shopping and aesthetic pleasure!

salomes.suitcase@gmail.com

The Reason For Meetings

Always to discuss the business of the day, or the problems of the world, or aliens, or why wont it stop raining.............sometimes it takes hours to plough through everything we need to talk about: Vending gigs, promotion, benefits, marketing, admin, agenda and action items. We travel from all points of the Greater Bay Area.

We have fun, but if you want to be successful, you have to really be organized and communicate clearly. Sometimes everyone agrees on a certain thing, sometimes we have to compromise, sometimes we all have personal agenda that we need to focus on instead.............but the food does help........the meetings cant happen without the food............

We cant do business without a spread. Its not allowed.

San Francisco Edwardian Ball Recap

A little late in posting about the Edwardian Ball, but it was a very rewarding weekend!

Not only were the Salome's Suitcase crew looking glamorous and elegant, but EVERYONE there was looking glamorous and elegant! It is so refreshing to attend a costumed event where everyone at least makes an effort!

Here is a little visual recap for your viewing pleasure - we didnt really see the show upstairs at all, even though a lot of performers were wearing our creations, but downstairs in the vendors area was pretty much a feast for the eyes anyway!

Fluffie Rufflie Sewing Patterns!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

KathleenCrowleyCostumeCouture has dipped her toes into the waters of commercial pattern making for the home sewer - and that means all of you lovely ladies who like to make your own costumes, who like to sew, who like to pay someone to sew something up for you, or who just like to collect patterns!

Two of her most popular garments are being offered in multi - sized packages. These are not for the beginner sewster and this is the basic first edition - made up in order to get them out to you asap! Kathleen really wants everyone to get out there and be creative! And while she will still be taking custom orders, this will hopefully fill the void for those who cannot afford one her fine creations - or who dont want to wait in line to get one!

Read more here about her patterns and how to go about ordering one!

Happy Sewing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

kc.costumecouture@gmail.com

ShadowDance Fashion Show!

     Fashion Shows are often a lot of hard work to put together. And when you have several designers working on it at once, and everyone is backstage with their various jobs that are required to pull off a little show like this, we actually have no or a very limited idea of what this looks like from the audience. As seasoned performers and artists who have had a lot of background in stage performing, we can visualize how we want it to look. We can stage it how we want the models to walk. We can direct the models in what we want them to do. We can talk to stage and lighting crew and get the most we can out of what's available at each venue. But we cant sit in the audience and watch. Not yet. So here is our show and we hope you like it!

You can contact any of the designers and artists by clicking on their pages or going to:
salomes.suitcase@gmail.com

We are very happy to say that despite the club lighting, this looks pretty amazing! We do pull some great looks together. We work well together, we problem solve without too much ego getting in the way, and we have a lot of fun!

Its also nice to have dancers available who know how to pose, move, and show off the outfits with relative ease - they can tell a story with what they are wearing and make it look easy.

Thank you to Ariellah for inviting us to participate in ShadowDance as both vendors and entertainment!

Thank you to the models for your patience, and for your grace and beauty!

Thank you to Jessie Cowan of Crops and Bobbers for your uber amazing hair and makeup!

Thank you to Melanie Shapiro for assisting with hair and makeup!

Thank you to Bellyscape for the video!

And we thank ourselves/each other at Salome's Suitcase - this is a rare group of strong creative women who work very hard to make the world a nicer looking journey for you.

Designers/Artisans  in this show:
FoolProof Studio
KathleenCrowleyCostumeCouture
Katherine Summer
HiBeam Bindis
Sandi's Ocean
Minerva's Antennae

Models in order of appearance:
Elizabeth Strong wearing Fool Proof Studio
Natalie Nayun wearing a Salome's Suitcase Collective look
Predislava Derugin wearing a Salome's Suitcase Collective look
Amaryst Bauer wearing Fool Proof Studio
Scottie Chapman wearing Fool Proof Studio
Rose Nisker wearing Katherine Summer
Sandi Ball wearing KathleenCrowleyCostumeCouture
Molly Mitchell wearing KathleenCrowleyCostumeCouture
Amber Burke wearing KathleenCrowleyCostumeCouture
Jamie Lynn wearing Katherine Summer

Some models were wearing HiBeam Bindis and awesome jewelry from the Sandi's Ocean collection.

Music:
Miss Levine by Beats Antique


Please let us know if you modeled for us and would like a link added to your name!
XXX