the best coastal cowgirl belts are secondhand isabel marant

accessorizing neutrals with boots

Runway looks styled with belts from Isabel Marant’s 2019-2021 collections. The Isabel Marant formula here is breaking up loose neutrals in the same tonal color family with the structure and hardware of the belt. And always with boots.

In March I wrote about my excitement about a coastal cowgirl summer:

I think of summer on a ranch. A artist residency at Georgia O’Keefe’s house. Collecting shells by the beach and laying your cotton dress out to dry on the rocks. Cooking barefoot. Glastonbury-ish boots. A ultra flat brim cowgirl hat hiding your eyes.

I want to level up my styling skills in the belt department. I own a total of two belts at the moment: a black leather belt Lizzie Fortunato with a bean shape gold buckle, and a purple PVC belt from MNZ I got ages ago on Need Supply (I rarely reach for this anymore). So I would not call myself a belt expert.

Similar to my hunt for the perfect boot, I would sift through hundreds of tabs on Etsy and the Gem app for vintage western belts only to hit a point of unbearable fatigue and drop the search alltogether. I sort of knew what I was looking for…western inspired, an interesting metal buckle, still modern…but as it goes with my fashion hunts, I’ll know it when I see it.

And then I saw it, on accident.