Belts or girdles circling the waist were among the first dress items known to by man, used for decoration, to draw in clothing for easier movement, and to carry useful items. A 30,000-year-old burial site discovered in Sungir, Russia in 1955 revealed the skeleton of a high-ranking prehistoric youth wearing a striking belt comprising 250 fox teeth. Moving forward in time, Bronze Age and other examples, for instance Pharaonic Egyptian belts, suggest that in Ancient times they were worn mainly by males, occasionally by women and children. Later, in the 1200s and 1300s, a fashionable narrow low-slung girdle emphasised the hips of slender female gowns, while men wore knotted hip belts supporting a purse and dagger. In medieval times belts even attained mystical status, being associated with strength: in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (late-1300s) a ‘magic’ girdle safeguarded Sir Gawain’s life.

By Tudor times, belts were well-established in regular dress. Fashioned from fabric, leather or metalwork, they served to accentuate the waistline and also suspended leather purses and rosary beads. At Elizabeth I’s court, ladies wore pearl- and gemstone-encrusted girdles that suspended further jewels, prayer books or fashionable folding fans. An alternative form of belt – a masculine accessory – was the sword belt/sword hanger worn by high-ranking men during the 1500s and 1600s, often heavy and ornately embroidered. A sword belt and sword remained important gentlemanly accoutrements until around the mid 1700s, when the pistol began to be favoured over the sword as a defence weapon.

Belts had not yet been used to fasten men’s hose or breeches: even in the 1800s belts were chiefly used for sports. When the three-piece male suit became established in the Victorian era, men generally used braces passing over the shoulders to hold up their trousers: as trousers increasingly superseded breeches and gained higher waistlines, braces came into use, often made of canvas embroidered with coloured silks or wool. During the mid-late 1800s and early 1900s, up until WW1, a belt was an important element of military dress, the tightly cinched waists of officers aiming for an upright, trim physique often becoming the butt of jokes and satirists’ sketches. From the 1920s the waistline of men’s fashionable trousers began to lower and more styles incorporated belt loops. This encouraged increased use of leather belts, although braces were still worn by some, albeit usually obscured by the waistcoat. When women began to favour separate blouses and skirts, belts became more important in female dress, especially c1900-1910. Since then, whenever the waistline has been a focus of the ideal female silhouette, separate or integrated belts have been used to accentuate that feature. Belts have also been widely worn with male and female jeans and casual trousers since their widespread adoption during the 1960s and 1970s.

Jayne Shrimpton is a professional dress historian and picture specialist, and author of several family photo and dress history books. Read her features on the Edwardian home and Edwardian photos in Issue 8 of our print edition, out now – see discoveryourancestors.co.uk