Cover photo credit: Drake's lookbook
If you love clothes like we do, you've probably asked yourself one morning while getting dressed:
“What belt should I wear with these shoes?”
The right choice of belt depends on how formal (or casual) your shoes are.
Let’s see together which belts to favor and avoid depending on each type of pair.
Belt and formal shoes
Seventh Width
1. Should we match the belt with the shoes?
Yes.
In an outfit with formal shoes, the belt should match the shoes.
For example, if you wear dark brown smooth leather shoes, then you need a dark brown smooth leather belt.
If you have a perfectly matching belt like some brands offer (belt in the same leather and in the same shade as the shoes), that's ideal.
What is also quite tolerable is if the two elements are very close. If you take dark brown shoes from one brand and a dark brown belt from another, the shades and appearance will not be 100% identical. But that's okay.
2. Belts to avoid
First of all, you probably know this but it is always good to remember it. You should not wear a belt with an appearance (color in particular) that is very different from your shoes:
Then, the belt should not be too fancy compared to the shoes:
These Crownhill Shoes are nice. The Atelier Particulier belt too. But the two don't match well, are too far apart in style, appearance, color.
3. A path to explore
If you want to add a little touch of originality to a formal outfit, you can try a braided leather belt in the same color as your shoes :
Why not. Morjas
Belt and semi-formal shoes
So we are talking about pairs like loafers , brogues, desert boots , lace-up boots. All leather shoes from workwear brands can have their place here (Red Wing, Yuketen , Paraboot , Kleman , etc.).
This is also where shoes made of non-smooth leather will go: grained, suede, oily to name the most common.
1. Should we match the belt with the shoes?
You can combine the two:
But you don't have to.
In this style register, you can have contrast between the belt and the shoes.
Since we are moving outside the framework of formal attire in the strict sense, there is more stylistic freedom.
Contrast of color or material, typically.
This way, one or two well-chosen belts can match the majority of your semi-formal shoes.
2. Belts to choose
You may have a dark brown belt for your formal wear. If so, this belt can be reused in slightly less formal outfits.
It's even better if you can get a belt with a slightly different aesthetic than the classic square silver buckle ones.
You can play on:
- The thickness of the belt
- The shape of the loop
- The material, exploring non-smooth leathers: grained, suede, oily
This way, you have quite a few options available to you. Not all leather belts are created equal.
For the color, staying on a shade of brown is a good option, quite safe.
For example, you can opt for a thin belt with a rounded buckle for a more chic look:
Thin belt (2.5cm) and rounded buckle. Portia1924
Or a thick leather belt with a more raw look for a more workwear style:
Thick belt (4cm), vegetable tanned leather. Velasca
Western or ranger belts also have their place here:
Ranger belt, grained leather. Adriano Meneghetti
3. Belts to avoid
The advantage of being in the middle of the formal-casual style spectrum is that both formal and casual belts will pretty much work.
Some choices will not be optimal but there is no huge error possible in my opinion.
4. Some inspiring looks
Below, the loafers are in tan suede leather while the belt is in dark brown smooth leather.
The color/material combination isn't perfect but it works because the outfit isn't ultra-formal and because these shades of brown fit in well with the rest of the outfit:
The following look is a great trompe-l'oeil.
The belt is the same color as the shoes but the material is not the same. The body of the belt is made of braided fabric, visibly cotton, while the shoes are made of smooth leather.
The idea of combining belts and shoes by color and providing contrast through the material is ingenious:
On the last look, the color of the belt is not perfectly matched with the shoes but that's okay.
The choice of a thicker belt is completely consistent with this workwear look with raw materials.
We could even say that this dark brown belt is part of a range of leathers and complements the medium brown jacket and dark burgundy shoes:
Belt and casual shoes (sneakers)
1. Should we match the belt with the shoes?
No.
The rule that applies in formal terms to associate the two does not apply in casual terms.
So , there is no need to wear a matching belt when wearing white sneakers.
You don't need this. Source: Kickstarter " sneaker belt "
One exception that could be mentioned here is if you have brown sneakers.
In this case, wearing a brown belt makes sense:
2. Belts to choose
With sneakers you can wear semi-formal belts, mainly leather as mentioned in the previous part.
Another option will be to go for fabric belts (cotton, linen, synthetic), which are resolutely casual.
I'm thinking mainly of braided belts:
The braided beige belt: a good idea with light sneakers in particular. Anderson's
But also belts made of a strip of fabric and which closes with two rounded buckles :
Now that's a casual belt! An Ivy
We can also mention the cobra belt which is dear to Benoît:
Click Belts
For the color of the belt, I see several options:
- Go for a shade of brown because it is the classic color for this accessory
- If you want to have a belt in a different color, I think it would be interesting to take one that complements the colors you usually wear, and that can possibly make a color reminder with one of your clothes, without it necessarily being your shoes.
3. Belts to avoid
In addition to the white belt mentioned above, I think you can avoid the very formal, suit belt with sneakers.
The style between the two contrasts a lot, a little too much.
This combination is probably less visually shocking than the opposite (formal shoes, casual belt) but it must be recognized that the rendering is not optimal.
Belledonne sneakers, Carmina belt
4. Some inspiring looks
This is an outfit you've already seen in this episode of Gimmick.
Here is an example where the belt is not intended to match the shoes but rather to be assembled with other elements of the outfit. In this case, the brown of the ranger belt goes with the blue of the shirt and the green of the pants.
For this second look, an example of a good integration of a brown belt with light sneakers.
Why does it work?
- The belt is not a very dark color and the sneakers are not optical white but ecru. The color difference between the two is not too strong
- The belt is not very formal. The look of the leather and the buckle makes it more reminiscent of a workwear type belt.
This last look shows an example of what you can do with a beige fabric belt: combined with white, blue (or black) and green, the result can be very nice.
The outfit is casual, the belt contrasts a little at the waist but fits well both in color and style with the rest of the outfit.
