Thursday, November 3, 2011

Necessaries: Surcingle Belt


Standard frame-and-prong belts with pre-drilled holes pose a variety of problems.  The first, which I face constantly as a person whose measurements are perpetually in between standard sizing (oh! the humanity), is that the number of circumference settings is limited by the manufacturer and my willingness to purchase a leather-punch.  Too many of my dress belts leave me no choice but to wear them in one hole, which means they sag in the front, or the next hole over, which means they are somewhat tight and cause my pants' waist to fit improperly and stretch out the belt loops on the back of my pants.  No satisfactory solution has yet presented itself.

Fortunately, in casual clothing, we have many more options.  The above Polo Ralph Lauren surcingle belt, in stately navy, cost $9 at the PRL outlet in Woodbridge (thanks, Mater!) and goes on almost every time I leave the house in jeans or shorts.  It is very close in color to my APC New Standard jeans.  And if it's covered by an untucked shirt or a sweater, who cares what color it is?

6 comments:

  1. Navy?  I thought Navy was one shade of blue off of black.  This looks almost turquoise.

    Regards  —  Cliff

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  2. While I have to agree with Cliff that the belt in question is not navy, I take more issue with the description of the color of that belt as being stately! When I think stately (at least in relation to clothing, I think of strong, dark, colors; subdued, not ostentatious. As for navy, as used by the Navy, I cannot distinguish it from black. As used by the real world, it can most easily be distinguished from black by comparing it, side-by-side with a known sample of black. As Cliff says, one shade of blue off of black.

    Regards — the other cliff

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  3. Gentlemen: my position is that the flash has hopelessly muddied the issue. One day, I will get a DSLR, but until then, you will just have to trust me.

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  4. To be fair, the belt does get noticeably darker as the fabric bends away from the focal plane, towards the buckle.

    Regards — the other cliff

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  5. Lee, part of the problem is that you really shouldn't use a camera's flash indoors. Even a DSLR's flash would cause this problem. Look into some strong full spectrum lighting for the room where you do your fashion photography and then you can take photos indoors without the flash and get good, clean colors.

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  6. At some point, I will have to invest some money in DD's art department.

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Questions, comments, and style ideas welcome, provided they are expressed respectfully.