Lovely reader
Herbee had this request:
I would love to see you cover belts. How can they look so good on everyone else and so dorky on me? Do some people just not have the body shape for belts? I just can't figure them out...at the waist, below the waist, loose, tight...it eludes me!OK, so you all know I love me a GOOD belt. But I am quite new to the belting game. Quite. Like, I'd say, a year into my love affair with the cinched-waist look. So I called in a long-time expert and belter extraordinaire for a guest post, and she went above and beyond! Without further ado, I give you the incomparable
Audi of Fashion for Nerds:
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First of all, let me start out by saying how flattered I am to be contributing a post to Sally’s wonderful blog. Today I’ve been tasked with providing a tutorial on belts, which I certainly hope lives up to the quality of writing that her readers have come to expect.
Belts are one accessory that get a lot of use in my wardrobe, and I employ them for different reasons. What I hope to do here is to give you a few strategies for knowing when to use a belt, and which type of belt to select.
I think of belts as fulfilling one of 3 different functions:
• Drawing attention to your smallest point
• Creating a waist
• Purely decorative
Some might argue that belts are needed to hold up your pants. And while that might be true for many men, most women have hips to do the job for us, so if you really and truly need a belt to keep your pants from falling down, I’ll give you a word of advice: buy some smaller pants! OK, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s discuss the real value in belts, one purpose at a time.
1. DRAWING ATTENTION TO YOUR SMALLEST POINTWhat is it?This one is pretty self-explanatory, really. With this approach, the idea is to employ a belt to focus attention on the narrowest portion of your torso; this is typically the natural waist, but might also be located up on the ribcage or right up under your boobs, depending on your body type.
Why do I need it?Use this approach when you’ve got an outfit that already hugs your curves but is lacking in definition. For instance, take a look at this dress with and without the belt.

The fit is great, but the continuous pattern causes my figure to get lost because the eye has nowhere to rest. This happens a lot when you’ve got a long expanse of solid color or pattern and the garment doesn’t have a lot of obvious shaping. Look at the difference between the pattern in the dress and the pattern in this jacket.

The jacket also has a lot of continuous pattern, but the alternating angles of the stripes give a very distinct definition to my waist, so no belt is needed here.
How do I do it?Here are a few examples of using a belt to draw attention to the smallest point.

As you can see from the photos above, the belt can be narrow or wide; all that really matters is that it fits you at your thinnest point. The subtlest way is to use a thin belt that matches the outfit; the most dramatic is to use a wide, contrasting belt. For even further definition you can use a belt with shaping, such as the saddle belt shown in the second example (coincidentally,
that very belt is available in
my Etsy shop!).
One word of caution for the short-waisted: steer clear of wide belts, as they will have the exact opposite effect from what you’re going for.
2. CREATING A WAISTWhat is it?Depending on your body type or on the outfit, you may need to create a waist where there otherwise is, or appears to be, none.
Why do I need it?
The need to create a waist can arise for several reasons: You don’t have a naturally defined waist and you want to create the illusion of one; you’re wearing a loose-fitting, bulky, or shapeless garment that hides your waist whether it’s there or not; or you want to move your waist up or down to create a different look or proportion. In all of these cases, what you’re doing is using the
contrast and
fit of the belt to place a waist exactly where you want one.
How do I do it?Wide belts are superior by far in this category, because they have the most visual impact. Elastic belts are the most versatile in terms of being able to wear them high up on your ribcage or down around your natural waist, and they have the added benefit of keeping loose or layered clothes in place.
Below are a few examples of creating a waist with a belt. In the first and second photos, I used a stetchy obi belt (
also available in my shop) to rein in a loose cardigan, and then an elastic belt to shape a chunky sweater.

In the next two examples, I’ve repositioned my waist, first up under the bust, and then down towards the hips. Note that the second example above (with the yellow sweater) and first example below (with the olive dress) both use the same belt, but placed differently.

Beware when moving the waist emphasis down towards the hips; this isn’t for every figure or for every outfit. A hip belt over a somewhat baggy top, as in the outfit shown above, merely moves the waist down. But a hip belt worn over a form-fitting outfit actually places the emphasis on the hips, not on the waist. This is really great if you have a good hip-to-waist ratio, but can be dangerous if you don’t.

If you’re worried about the belt making your hips look larger, then choose a hip belt that’s on the narrower side, and wear it just above the hips rather than all the way down across them. You can also try slanting the belt to one side, or if the belt has the right type of buckle you can push the center down into a ‘V,’ which has a narrowing effect.
3. PURELY DECORATIVE
What is it? I don’t feel like many very belts truly fall into this category, but every once in awhile there’s an outfit that has plenty of waist definition but just needs a little more oomph. A belt can be used in this case to add contrast or to reinforce the particular aesthetic you’re going for.
Why do I need it?Only you know the answer to that one. Sometimes you look at an outfit and think, “This needs something.” Perhaps that something is a belt. Sometimes you might be going for a look that’s say, a little bit punk; in that case you might add a belt with pyramid studs before you head out to steal a car and go slam dancing. Maybe you want to add a little sparkle, and a belt with shiny hardware or jewels is just the way to add it. In any case, sometimes it’s OK for the belt to be completely non-functional and purely for looks.
How do I do it? It’s pretty easy, really. Figure out what your outfit needs and see if you’ve got a belt that fits the bill. Here are a couple examples of outfits that would’ve looked perfectly fine with no belt at all. In the first example, I already accomplished the necessary waist definition with the vest, but I wanted to add a little more rock n’ roll to the outfit. The double-wrap studded belt was the answer. The second example has a similar story; I wanted to add some hardware for more of a steampunk aesthetic, and the belt was a great way to do it.
WHEN DON'T I NEED A BELT?Oh, of course you weren’t going to let me get away without answering that one. There are lots of reasons why you wouldn’t wear a belt, but let’s chat briefly about these:
• You don’t want waist definition
• The garment’s cut or detail elements make it impossible to wear one
• The cut of the garment acheives waist definition for you
Consider these outfits:

In the first example, the look I’m going for is a long, straight torso like the androgynous figures popular in the 1920’s. In this case I’m taking advantage of the fact that my hips aren’t a whole lot bigger than my natural waist. In the second example the dress has a pseudo-belt built right in, but moreover, the buttons on the faux belt make it completely out of the question to put a real belt over the top. When I’m considering purchasing something like this I generally ask myself, “Am I totally OK with the fact that I can never belt this?” Belts have a transformative property, so the inability to use them really resricts the way an outfit can look. Make sure that you’re really happy with the shape when considering a belt-prohibitive item.
Of course, there are plenty of other ways to achieve waist definition without a belt, as I mentioned above. Peplums, ruffled hems on tops, and darts are all design features that often render a belt superfluous. Waistcoats and fitted blazers are frequently figure-defining without any additional help from a belt. But since this is a post about belts and not about waist definition per se, I’ll close my discussion here.
Thanks for reading, and thanks to Sal for giving me this opportunity to contribute!