With my recent fashion reboot, I’m revisiting something again: belts. This time, it’s more out of necessity than fashion as I keep losing weight and now nothing really fits anymore. It doesn’t feel all that long ago that I was saying and doing the same thing, but it was the other direction.
So, back then, as now, I had this idea that I would buy a buckle-less belt, which I’ve come to learn is called a "belt blank", and I would buy one or more buckles that I could interchange with the belts as needed. Had I done this the last time I was thinking about it, I would just be buying blanks in the new correct size and I would already have the buckles. But here we are again, with nothing.
So I made the leap and purchased one blank and now I’m researching buckles. What I’ve come to find is, searching "belt buckles" gets you two distinct sets of results. One is set of tiny buckles suitable for dress belts, that have such minor variations they might as well all be the same. The other is huge, gaudy, western buckles where anything goes. I’m pretty sure you can figure out which camp I fall in. So my dilemma is not one of too much choice, but choosing the right minor variant that is correct. And that’s much harder than it seems.
Trying to buy clothing online is just plain hard. This is something you really should see in person and handle. But there’s not going to be any stores that sell this stuff, and not with any large variety. So, trying to figure out how a buckle will look, with the slight variations in curves, thickness, and finish, is probably just going to be guessing game.
And while I was doing all this guessing, I had the thought, maybe I should just go somewhere like Ross or Bealls and buy a cheap belt and harvest the buckle. Wait, why don’t I go to a thrift shop and buy an even cheaper belt and harvest the buckle. Wait a minute, I have two belts that I’m going to throw away because they no longer fit and they have buckles! Wait a minute, I’ve thrown away countless belts in my life and they all had buckles!! Why don’t I already have a huge stash of belt buckles just waiting for a blank in which to install them? Now I feel stupid and wasteful.
So I guess that’s going to be the fun this weekend is hitting thrift shops looking for belts. Should be a fun diversion. But I’ll share a little secret. Those big gaudy western belts? I have one. It’s getting close to being 50 years old. When I was very young, I went through a phase where I was obsessed with unicorns. This buckle is (I think) pewter and has a starburst pattern with a unicorn filled with tiny turquoise stone chips. I still have it in my jewelry box. No, I don’t think I’m going to be wearing it.
Quick post-publish note: I dropped in at Bealls after dinner tonight and I am so fucking glad I didn’t go buying some belt buckle on Amazon for anywhere from $15 – $60 fucking dollars when I can get a whole damn belt for $9.99. At that price I’m not even going to bother with thrift shops.
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