Don’t be scared! A belt CAN be your best friend
TODAY’S column contains a true story, an epiphany of sorts and sartorial references that may not have crossed your mind since listening to Now That’s What I Call Music 1987.
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing on stage a young and brilliant fashion designer by the name of Alice Archer.
Alice had offered to lend me a sample dress to wear for the evening and, rather distractedly, I agreed with my fashion team that the dress would ‘probably fit’.
With just 20 minutes or so before the audience was due to arrive, I tried the dress on and realised that it did not fit.
Specifically, the zip would not budge over my rib cage.
Crisis talks with a Red Magazine staffer elicited the following solution — wear a wide belt.
Muttering (gracelessly) that I didn’t want to look like Cheryl from Bucks Fizz, I was persuaded into a butter-soft, 10cm-wide leather belt by Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini (see a selection at lyst.com/ shop/philosophy- di-lorenzoserafini) — and what do you know? Revelation!
The belt covered the ignominious zip gape and exposed ribs perfectly. The effect was not unlike a Japanese obi — on trend and went perfectly with the dress.
MY CLEVER colleague had not only solved a fashion emergency, but the wide leather cincher made me feel more pulled together and less like I’d wandered out in my pretty, embroidered nightie.
I confess to having rather turned my nose up at the wide belt trend, particularly the soft leather numbers with super- sized D-ring buckles that somehow always bring to mind the wardrobes of bighaired Eighties singers such as Carol Decker from T’Pau.
But now, I must share my enthusiasm for them with the zeal of a convert. I repeated my frock and big belt combo on a swanky trip to LA — and won a ton of compliments.
The emphasis on the waist comes and goes, of course. In fashion history terms, we can thank French couturier Paul Poiret (born in Paris in 1879) for doing away with corsets, stays and other punishing foundation garments and allowing the body to breathe. (Not surprisingly this sartorial revolution coincided with the women’s suffrage movement).
Happily, these days, belting up is a purely personal choice, but as clothing becomes bigger and more voluminous, I’d say a bit of a cinch is going to give you a better silhouette.
When browsing the High Street for your wide belt, you may notice a variety with tie laces on offer. I’d say leave those to the young.
For me, any kind of corset-y belt with criss- cross lacing comes with some ghastly connotations — the festive tarts and vicars party in Bridget Jones, for starters.
Much chicer are the wide leather belts with buckle fastening. Zara has a lovely one in red (£17.99, zara.com).
For an equally purse-friendly option, look at the black corset belt from Next (£16, next.
co.uk). Both these and the soft wide Obi-style belts with decorative fastenings (there’s a fantastic one at mango.com, £19.99, which comes in red or navy) are good investments.
Even if you feel they’re a bit bold or retro now, by autumn, when fashion types start suggesting you wear your floaty midi dress with a finegauge black roll-neck, long boots — even jeans — underneath: that’s when your wide belt will come into its own.
Not just for wardrobe malfunctions, I promise.