4 hours ago
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There is a white-hot, brand new must-have accessory in fashion. Long, snakey object that goes around your waist, sometimes holds your trousers up. It’s called a belt. Perhaps you’ve heard of it?
Sometimes shifts in style are so simple that you don’t notice them. The return of the belt is like that. Everyone owns a belt and knows what it is. A belt isn’t eyecatching, which means that when someone walks past you in the street wearing a belt, your eye doesn’t necessarily even register it in the way you would clock, say, a cowboy hat, or a corsage. But the belt is big fashion news this season. It is a style hack that can give your favourite coat an instant makeover; unlock a new silhouette when teamed with a pair of trousers; and turn basics into an outfit.
Belts have been sidelined for the past couple of decades. If you are wearing skinny jeans that shimmy snug over your hips and are as tight as a corset around the tummy, a belt is unnecessary. Leggings look odd with a belt. Tracksuit bottoms look ridiculous with a belt. And anyway, no belt loops. For a while, the belt seemed destined to languish in a cupboard, a piece of outdated tech, like a Walkman or an iPod.
But now, spray-on jeans have been benched in favour of baggy ones, which require belting if you want them to sit on the waist. Flat-fronted trousers have been sidelined in favour of capacious ones with vented pleats, which are designed to be worn with a belt, and have a much stronger silhouette with one. Streetwear is declining in favour of preppy clothes, which means proper trousers rather than a tracksuit. Leggings are still very much part of our world, but athleisure is no longer the aspirational lifestyle statement it was, so the slicked-back bun-and-gold-hoop girlies on Instagram are more often to be found in a crisp shirt, jeans and a belt.
Adding a belt to your outfit is the wink to camera that shows you know what’s up in 2025. Let’s start with your coat. How are you feeling about your winter coat, right now? I would say I’ve got a kind of Stockholm syndrome with mine: as in, I’m desperate to break free of it but it’s also got to the point where I can’t imagine life without it. My winter coat of choice has been an oversized black wool number from & Other Stories (no longer on sale, but this Voluminous Belted Wool Coat, £245, is similar), which I am trauma-bonded to after January’s big freeze, but also pretty bored of at this point. Instead of prematurely swapping it out for a jacket and risking getting caught out by a cold snap, I have started styling it with a leather belt, which adds shape and a contrasting texture and instantly turns my coat into a satisfying outfit.
Proper trousers, worn with a belt, is the basis of my wardrobe these days. This is a change I didn’t see coming, since I had fully indoctrinated myself into believing that a French-tucked blouse popped oh-so-insouciantly behind the brass button of a snug-at-the-waist jean was the height of chic. For years, a belt looked kind of clunky to me. A bit old-fashioned, like nude-coloured tights. But fashion loves a 180-degree turn, and I am now a zealous convert to the way that a belt makes a pair of tailored trousers sit, and how it sets off the silhouette. I have two belts on rotation. A black Taylor belt (£65 from Sezane) with just the right heft and tone of gold-plated bronze hardware, and a plaited deep-brown with silver buckle, a classic from J&M Davidson – the current version retails for £125.
What a belt does now is make an outfit look intentional. It makes you look like a grown-up – by which I mean sophisticated and competent, not boring. It takes a white shirt and dark trousers from just fine, to just perfect. And you thought it was something to accentuate your waist? Do keep up.
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Hair and makeup: Sophie Higginson using Hair by Sam McKnight and Charlotte Tilbury. Models: Bella (left) at Milk and Alejandra at Mrs Robinson. Bella wears yellow jumper, £49, John Lewis. Belt, £125, Me & Em. Jeans, £330, Agolde. Boots, £79.99, Zara. Alejandra wears coat, £159, and earrings, £15.99, both Zara. Belt, £79, Saint + Sofia. Cashmere hoodie, £155, and skirt, £135, both Jigsaw. Boots, £160, Ariat
