Need Belt Suggestions

[OC Richard]

You have a good point, many of the belts available are rather thick and stiff.

Be aware that there are two quite different sorts of belts, both of which have been in widespread production since the 1920s.

There's the traditional Victorian 2.5 inch wide waistbelt/dirk belt, nowadays thought of as a "piper's belt". These tend to be thick smooth leather.

Then there's the dedicated Evening Dress belt, 2.25 inches wide, which was introduced specifically for wear with the Montrose jacket around 1920. This belt has always generally been made from leather given a textured finish, and traditionally made in two layers, the textured black outside and the red inside, stitched together. In spite of being two layers the Evening Dress belt tends to be more flexible.

Each of these two styles has always had dedicated buckles in a range of motifs.

BTW the Evening Dress belt is also seen in imitation pigskin leather, with the traditional silverplate Evening buckle done up in brass.

Since you will be wearing the belt specifically with the Prince Charlie I think the Evening Dress belt would be far more suitable than the so-called piper's belt.

This is the most common buckle seen with the Evening Dress belt. There's also one with a large plain rectangle with a narrow border of thistles.



About the quality of the leather, I'm pretty picky about that, and I nearly always make my own belts out of nice soft flexible belt blanks.

The cheap stiff belts you mention are made in Pakistan. If you order a made by L&M Highland Outfitters or one of the Scottish sporran makers the leather will be high quality.