Belts might be what performs the all important function of keeping your pants up thereby saving you from public disgrace but we still do not give much thought to them, do we? But like all things fashion that does aesthetics with as much purpose as credibility, belts too come in different types, corresponding to the different uses intended of them. Learning about the many belts you can choose to wear, and flaunt, for such effect of the couture that can make you the ultimate fashionista, comes across then as a useful exercise in pursuit. Buckle up then and get going on this loop of fastening your knowledge about the different types of belts there are-
Buckle Belt
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The most common type of belt and indeed the classic one as well, a buckle belt is one rather simple and basic pick of this essential fashion accessory. A strap belt that comes with holes and a buckle, or two, a buckle belt is also very versatile as it comes in a wide range of options to cater to your every style requirement. Double buckle belts in particular are rather stylish options to don to make a fashion statement without any effort at all. Whether you wear one over a pair of jeans or cinch up your waist over a dress instead, double buckle belts are quite some interesting style work up within the ambit of buckle belts.
Military Belt
A rather striking looking belt, the military belt is one that ticks all the boxes of convenience, style as well as affordability. A nylon webbing strap belt used by military personnel from which it takes its name and therefore also called a webbed belt or skater belt, this belt type is distinctive in the absence of any holes as well as in its unique buckle that comes without the pin, hence the lack of the perforations. An essential element of the military uniform since earlier times, military belts are made to be flexible, durable as well as sweat absorbent and can be adjusted to just the correct size for each one of its wearers.
Over-sized Belt
There’s a certain appeal about fashion that tends to be some sizes too big to cater to you. Think boyfriend shirts or oversized pullovers that lend you in fact with a fit so flattering even in its loose space that makes you come across as all the more stylish and chic. So too is the case with oversized belts that help you pull off a style statement quiet outlandish but still sporting a fashion figure that complements you impeccably well. In the obviously attention grabbing premise of it, sometimes an oversized belt is all you need to make your outfit business chic to party ready within minutes.
Cinch Belt
As evident in its very name, a cinch belt is one that performs a function aesthetic in essence. A wide belt meant to be worn tightly to make the waist appear smaller, these are stretchable picks that indeed can wow one and all by producing the desired effect. Fastened either with a buckle or a clasp or laced up at other times, cinch belts help achieve the silhouette of an hour glass figure even for folks who might otherwise be far from living that utter fantasy in fashion.
Lace-up Belt
While cinch belts might sometimes also double up as lace up belts, they still aren’t the exclusive form of the latter. Lace up belts, or corset belts, though are still effective means to flatter your figure in style. With eyelets and drawstrings to fasten the belt around the waist, lace up belts can however be worn over loose dresses and not just the tight fitting corsets despite their residing in the name. As a fun, playful way to rev up your casual outfit or an elegant bet of going ravishingly retro, lace up belts indeed make for a pick that you should dare to sport for the sheer vision of it.
Sash Belt
Yet another belt type that is a statement making piece of accoutrement, a sash belt is in fact a fabric or ribbon tie around your waist like a sash. Sometimes it might also be worn draping from one shoulder to the waist but mostly they would rather just sit around your waist. Sash belts are generally worn by brides over their wedding dress on their special day, with the tails of the sash belt usually tied into a bow to lend even more grace to the wearer. However, sash belts for men are available as well, drawing once again from the facet of military life of earlier times. Symbolic in different cultures but also as prominent an item of style, sash belts immediately make apparent their ceremonial significance with the silk shimmer or the ribbony radiance of them.
Braided Belt
It might not be too fitting to outline braided belts as a specific type since they are like any other buckle belt, except for the ‘texture’ of them. But given how the braided strap of the belt makes them so standout a accessory that is funky as well as functional, they need to be well accorded a separate identity. Quite pretty in the intricate look of it, these woven or braid belts can really transform even the most basic of outfits to one that is trendy and instantly party ready.
Metal Belt
Chic, stylish and essentially accessorising and accentuating your look are metal belts that in fact happen to be a type of dress belt. Made of course of some kind of metal, usually glitzy and worn over dresses suiting of such occasions as parties or weddings, metal belts are almost always a way to do up your outfit rather than being an essential upholder of your dignity. Needless to say this is one of the belt types that is exclusive to women rather than being an unisex piece of fashion accessory.
Hip Belt
Another belt type that accentuates the look rather than performing any typical function of holding up your outfit is what finds fashionable expression as the hip belt. Usually an ornate belt, that gives away already its premise of being an accessory first and utilitarian later, a hip belt is a crucial fashion accessory to a certain category of its wearers. Specifically in the realm of belly dance, dancers often sport heavily embellished hip belts to draw attention to the area around the hips and the waist- through which this particular dance form manifests.
Another interpretation of the hip belt is in the realm of South Asian weddings where it is worn over the wedding dress, typically a saree, as a fashion accessory known exclusively as the kamarband. Lying low on the hips and worn loosely for the effect of the aesthetics, both kamarbands and hip belts tend to be intricately beautiful specimens of craftsmanship as well.
Twist Belt
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Source: Top of Style
A work up of the buckle belt again, twist belt is one very inventive and interesting take on the belt. In fact, twist belts can be interpreted in many types like the one look achieved by cross tying two sash belts or the specific twist belt with intersecting loops or sometimes even an ordinary belt worn by twisting and tying to such effect that is really different and incredibly stylish. Even with the impeccable flaunt of the visuals, this is a belt that you can rely on to hold your pants up as steadily as well.
Garter Belt
A type of belt that holds not your pants but rather your stockings up in place, garter belt is a suspender belt that is worn as some sort of an undergarment. Narrow bands of fabric or lace are fastened around the waist or lower on the hips with the garter clips, essentially some four to six ribbons suspended beneath, holding the stockings up. Known also therefore as suspender belts, these items of clothing make for a particular tradition in weddings even though close iterations of it find expression among ice hockey players who wear similar suspenders to hold up their specific types of socks in place.
Grommet Belt
Most of the belts are quite distinctive in the many holes they sport, essentially to perform the function they intend to. But there are some belts that go a notch up with the holes, both in the number and in the appearance of them so much so that these holes become their defining feature. Called grommet belts after the circular metallic structures that are used to reinforce the holes in them, these are funky pieces of statement making fashion that still are just buckle belts but in a more standout manner.
T-lock Belt
If grommet belts are all about the holes, T lock belts are all about the lack of them! For those who need the functionality of a belt but despise the holes featured in it owing perhaps to trypophobia or whatever other reason exists a special type of buckle belt called the T- lock belt. Featuring buckles that lock automatically and deriving its name from the T shape appearance of one part of the buckle, these are belts that do away with the necessity of holes or grommets in the strap thereby lending you a look different from the rest.
Peplum Belt
Peplum belts are those that endow you with the flared look of what a peplum dress essentially does to your waist. With the extra flounce that adds volume to your waist, this makes also for a distinctive way to wear belts given how otherwise all other belts are intended to make your waist appear slimmer. Like the peplum types of skirts, peplum belts too emphasise your waistline almost the same way a corset belt would but with more volume and curves, making for just the perfect accessory to go with any fitting outfit of your choice.
Reversible Belt
While belts can be an essential fashion accessory, you don’t really tend to go for a wardrobe full of them. Which is why reversible belts are so much of a blessing that helps you achieve two looks with just one of them. Sporting two different colors on either side of it, a reversible belt comes also with a buckle that is rotatable as well so that you can wear it on whichever side you want to. Quite a functional way to go considering how belts does not exactly make for fashion accessories that you would buy to suit exclusively each of your clothing options.
Obi
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A belt unlike any other in that it is an element of traditional clothing in Japan as well as one making part of the uniform of Japanese martial art, the obi has been in existence since the Heian period of classical Japanese history. Of varying size and shape and worn by both men and women and children alike in formal and informal occasions as well, obis are meant to secure a kimono and keep it closed though modern variations tend to be more extravagant and showy than functional. With multiple ways to tie the knots of an obi, these are belts that have a rather distinctive and distinguished place in the realm of traditional Japanese fashion.
