Billy Reid Thin Dress Belt

THE ASKMEN TAKE

One of the purest staples of a man’s wardrobe is a black dress belt, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a better example of craftsmanship blended with style and comfort than this one from American designer Billy Reid.

Made in Italy and measuring an inch wide with a slim profile, and with an antique brass buckle, this dress belt lives up to all of the Billy Reid hype and the company’s down-home approach to producing the finest clothing. This belt may look like it’s made for a weekend in the country, but it will look even better looped through the trousers of one of Reid’s thousand-dollar Italian-stitched suits.

 UNIQUENESS

Billy Reid accessories have a character and persona that’s rarely found in fashion. This thin, black dress belt offers an easy entrance into the Billy Reid world of Southern gentleman sophistication. Each piece in the line is imbued with Reid’s own sense of self and rebirth.

One of the great contemporary stories of men’s fashion is the transformation of one William Reid into Billy Reid. The man spent his youth hanging around his mother’s Louisiana-based dress shop before launching his own William Reid out of New York. The fashion world took note of his unique style and bestowed upon him the Council of American Fashion Designers Perry Ellis award.

Soon after the September 11th attacks, Reid closed the line and went back to his southern roots to ponder his next move. The result was Billy Reid. To help make his point that he had returned home, he based the line in an old house in Florence, Alabama.

DURABILITY

Many, if not most leather belts on today’s market are not fully made of leather. It’s a nice manufacturing trick to keep costs and retail prices low. The outer layer is leather while the interior strip, the one that goes against your trousers or jeans, is faux or plasticized leather. But such forms of trickery are not tolerated in the South. Billy Reid wouldn’t think of it. With this label you get real and hefty full leather belts made for real men by Reid’s Italian leather craftsmen.

You can pair this belt with the aforementioned suit or jeans without concern and the brass buckle with its antique finish will only get better looking with wear.