Belt Buckle question

[TopherDharma]

Newbie here first post of my own:

Is there a prohibited buckle allowed to be used with belts. Is there anything allowed or is it only specific types and styles allowed with a belt?

[Father Bill]

Umm… usually the kind that holds the belt together.

The big plate rectangles are more normal for evening wear. For daywear, a one or two-tongue buckle is more normal, and no belt if you’re wearing a vest. Belts are actually optional even without a vest.

Good question!

[BobF]

I’ve been very happy with suspenders when wearing a vest. Nobody can see it, and I don’t have the belt constricting me.

[OC Richard]

Is there a prohibited buckle allowed to be used with belts. Is there anything allowed or is it only specific types and styles allowed with a belt?

There are traditions and fashions surrounding Highland Dress which people can freely choose to follow or disregard. (Nothing is prohibited in a legal sense, in other words.)

The first thing to recognise is that when our Traditional Highland Dress evolved, around 1900 to 1920, the vast majority of men stopped wearing swords and dirks, and thus the belts that supported these weapons.

So in Victorian Evening Dress men generally wore a sword and crossbelt, and dirk and waistbelt, while in 20th century Evening Dress men generally wore neither the weapons nor their belts.

Here's a Victorian gent in full Evening Dress showing the weapons and their belts.



Modern Evening Dress, no weapons or belts.



In Day Dress, both Victorian and 20th century, men rarely wore weaponry nor their associated belts.



There is an entirely modern thing (which I believe is American in origin) of purchasing kilts that don't fit right and trying to hold them up with a dirk belt, in false analogy with trousers. Traditional kilts don't require braces or belts to hold them up.

Waistbelts did reappear in Evening Dress in the 1920s not to support a dirk (or a kilt) but purely as decoration when the new Montrose shell jacket appeared. From the get-go it was supposed to be worn with its special narrow Evening Dress belt, and lace jabot.



All that history aside, in Traditional Highland Dress, in Evening Dress, with specific jackets like the Montrose (and not with the Prince Charlie or Argyll), a 2.25 inch wide black leather belt with rectangular silver buckle is traditionally worn.

In Day Dress belts are sometimes worn on the kilt but only when a waistcoat isn't worn, though from time to time you do see a waistbelt worn OVER the waistcoat, for what reason I can't imagine, unless a dirk is being worn (which is quite unusual in Day Dress).

Day Dress belts traditionally can be black or brown and have a brass buckle, generally an open-frame buckle of some sort.

However many men don't have a dedicated "Day" belt and wear their Evening belt, with silver rectangular buckle, in Day Dress.

[KiltedBigWave]

Umm… usually the kind that holds the belt together.

The big plate rectangles are more normal for evening wear. For daywear, a one or two-tongue buckle is more normal, and no belt if you’re wearing a vest. Belts are actually optional even without a vest.

Good question!

Thanks for the great yest simple reply, helps a lot.

[Tobus]

I'll second the advice on making sure the kilt fits well first, and wearing it at the appropriate level (natural waist for a traditional kilt, not down on the hips like trousers). When sized and worn correctly, a belt should not be needed for most body types.

If you do choose to wear a belt, the buckle type will really depend on the belt itself. Most commercially-sold kilt belts don't have holes for a buckle with a prong or tongue to go through. They just fold back on themselves, sometimes fixed with velcro or some-such, and the waistplate of the belt hooks into a metal clip on the other side. This is more of an evening-style belt, though there are some variations of them that are more suited to daywear.

So the first question is what type of belt you're looking to put a buckle on. Not every kilt buckle can go on every kilt belt.

Kilt belts are usually 2" to 2.5" wide (I think 2.25" width is the norm but don't quote me on that); they are much wider than typical trouser belts. Wearing a narrow trouser belt with a kilt looks ...odd. So again, depending on the width of the actual belt you're looking to put a buckle on, it may limit what you can actually use.

I rarely wear a belt these days with a kilt, but of the belts I do have, I much prefer a daywear belt to look decidedly different than an evening/formal belt. This waistplate is of the rectangular variety, but its shape and material/finish are more suited to daywear IMHO, as opposed to a shiny white metal rectangle.




*edited to add:

You can also go more non-traditional with something like a military web belt. The width is just right for a kilt belt, although it is definitely in the "out there" category. I haven't been arrested yet for wearing it with a kilt.

[ShaunMaxwell]

Sound advice all around. Just wanted to chime in with some photos of the open-style buckles I wear with daywear.

The belt appearing at the top is from McRostie and the others were made by the much missed Oconee Leather Works:



Cheers,

SM