With all the stores getting rid of their summer stuff right now, I'm noticing a lot of wide belts coming in now. Maybe instinctually, everyone's getting tired of looking like a shapeless blob with all those easy-to-produce geometric patterns everyone's been making for the past decade.
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| Blackhorne belt |
So, like in the old days before tailoring (source: renn faires and medieval costumes, lol) there are wide belts to give our flowy/baggy clothing some shape/structure. Of course, those of us who wear dark fashion already know all about corset belts. Or waist cinchers. If you were like me these were the poor man's corset, because it was more affordable than the full corset. I'm seeing a number of corset belts (the two above are both from Zara (ew)). And I saw one at the H+M flagship that doesn't seem to be on the site yet. Many many fall runway shows had them too, so the fast-fashion knock-off machine will start moving soon.
Some of the wide belts were obi belts, which are very easy to DIY. With some clever tying of a thin black scarf, you've got the look.
Obi belts obviously look great with the ninja/health/nu goth look (2nd from left below) but also can dress up a comfortable, sleek jersey dress like the one on the far right. The other helpful thing about wide belts is that if you are not proportionate, you can use it to move your waistline. A short person like me could pair it with a high or regular-waisted skirt to give the illusion of longer legs and a shorter torso (2nd from right, below) by creating an empire waist. If you are more of a rectangle, or just want to exaggerate your waist, these will accentuate the waist.
Do you have any wide belts? I personally don't, aside from a few waist cincher corsets. I had a few in the 00s, but threw everything out in my first wardrobe purge. Aside from DIYing an obi belt out of a scarf, I'll probably sit this trend out, unless i see something that blows my mind. I don't like owning a lot of impractical things that also take up a lot of space, lol. This is definitely a trend for big suburban closets, not teeny tiny NYC apartments with zero built-in closets.
