The Benefits of Belts

Maybe you're a shy girl, maybe you just lack a little body confidence, but whatever the reason, belts just don't feature much in your wardrobe.  I've been there, my dear, but I think after reading this post, that's going to change.  As a teen and even as a young woman in my 20s I never really understood why people wore belts.  It made sense to me as a necessity during times when you had one pair of pants that would last most of your life and when the starving times hit you needed a belt to keep those pants from falling off, but in a modern world where if you need tighter pants, you can typically find a new pair for $10 to $20 and a thrift shop pair for $ 0.25 (and as someone who's been through hard times I know first hand that that is a second hand price that just about everyone can afford), so why do belts persist in fashion?  Well, as it turns out that there are actually some very good reasons why belts are still around and today I'm going to share a few with all you rebellious types.

1.  Break-Ups.  This first and possibly most important reason to bring belts into your wardrobe didn't really strike me until I started wearing dresses.  Dresses are very often one large piece of the same fabric and it doesn't matter if it's a print, big or small, or a solid, bold or neutral, that much of one thing can be a lot for the eye to take in.  Adding a belt (solid color if your outfit is patterned and patterned if your outfit is solid or a differently and preferably standout color from the one your outfit consists of) helps to break up what your eye sees and create some visual interest.  You'll notice that I'm wearing this Red Long Sleeve High Neck Split Bodycon Dress in Sabrina cut. I wore the same dress for this post on snake prints and didn't need a belt because the dress, with it's asymmetrical hem line and animal pattern already does a great job of creating visual interest.  For this version of the Sabrina cut in red, I still have that great asymmetrical hemline and mod-style neckline, but since there is no print on this dress, you can see how adding a belt creates an entirely different vibe to the outfit.  

2.  Define Me.  Our clothing shouldn't be vague and chaotic unless that's the intentional message we want to send to the world.  We've all had that outfit item, be it a baggy dress, boxy jacket, or blousey top that just doesn't do much for our figures, but don't despair.  There's no need to throw that sort of item away.  Just grab a belt.  A belt can bring such wonderful shape to shapeless wardrobe items.   Even for  bodycon dresses such as this one from FemmeLuxe, which already has plenty of shape given that it's doing such a fine job of showing off my shape, it's great to have that band of contrast at the narrowest part of your waist just to really enhance what the clothing is already doing.  After all, one little piece of clothing shouldn't have to do all the work and neither should your own shape.  Let a belt pick up the slack.

3.  Curves Ahead.  As I mentioned in line one of this post, you might be a little on the shy side and you tend to hide behind shapeless clothes.  Or maybe you're an outgoing person, but you lack the body confidence it takes to show off your shape a little.  You're in good company here.  I have curves, they were given to me by God and I haven't always loved them because at times in my life they were pretty steep. Once again that was back in those teens and twenties when I was still figuring out how to dress my shape.  If only I'd know the power of a belt to help create the shape I want by putting the belt on the narrowest part of my waist instead of where I usually wore them which was the widest part of my hips.  Is it any wonder I hated them?  I was doing it all wrong!  By putting the belt at the widest part of my hips, my shape was unbalanced and awkward.  But, by moving that belt up to the narrowest part of my waist, it created more of an hourglass shape and brought balance to my wide hips and small chest.

Shopping Info:  Red Long Sleeve High Neck Split Bodycon Dress - Sabrina from FemmeLuxeFinery.co.uk heels from ModCloth