Brighton

Two nice belts…

My belts have worn out or ceased to fit, probably a function of buying cheapies at Target and eating a bit too much good food. Have you noticed—if you’re of the female persuasion—how difficult it’s gotten to find an attractive belt that’s also utilitarian? The department stores are full of various flights of leather, plastic, and chain fancy, none of them designed do much other than make you look like you went on a fugue instead of a shopping trip. They have holes. They have hooks. They have chains. They have rhinestones. They have animal hair. They have dangly charms. They have hinges. But they don’t fit through the belt loops of a normal pair of bluejeans!

The ones that do are plain beyond plain, flat unembellished uninteresting strips of leather with buckles made of base metal. Good for holding up your jeans while you’re shoveling weeds out of the garden, but not something you’d wear to be seen in public.

So, I’ve raised my sights above the Target sale rack:

Yes: Brighton belts. And yeah, I know they cost three times what Target is charging. But my experience with these better-quality belts has been that they last for years, not just months. Either of the ones in the top left image would be perfect for jeans or other casual slacks. I need both a black and a brown belt, and that style, the Denver Diamond, comes in both colors. I think the Dakota Chevron Diamond,on the top right, would be great with jeans, too, but Amazon seems not to have it in women’s sizes. And I don’t know whether a men’s 36 is the same as a women’s 36—Brighton women’s belts tend to run small, so there’s no way of guessing how they compare or whether a fat old lady could wear a men’s version in the same size.

Brighton does carry some dressier women’s belts. Below the cowgirl numbers, for example, Brighton Classics Womens Brown & Silver Belt is extremely nice but not gaudy. Alas, they don’t have it in my size.

I like the hardware on this Brighton Classics Womens Silver & Black Snakeskin Belt, too. But it seems to be available only in 28 inches. They also have it in red, in a size larger.

The Brighton stores in the malls here have a slightly larger selection of women’s belts. Some are way baroque. But a few are very nice, along these lines. If you don’t mind crowds and disconnected salesladies.