V&A
Black Leather Belt with Rectangular Metal Buckle
1970s · 1970s · French
Designer
Madame Grès
Production
ready-to-wear
Material
cashmere
Culture
French
Movement
Hippie / Counterculture
Influences
modernist geometric design
A wide black leather belt with a substantial rectangular metal buckle featuring multiple adjustment holes. The belt appears to be made of smooth, finished leather with a matte surface treatment. The buckle is geometric and modernist in design, characteristic of 1970s accessories that emphasized bold, architectural forms. The belt's width suggests it was designed to be worn at the natural waist, creating a strong horizontal line that would complement the flowing silhouettes popular in early 1970s fashion. The construction appears to be machine-stitched with reinforced edges, indicating commercial production rather than handcraft.
dresstentfloor length
Connected To
Influences·modernist geometric designTechnique·leather-working
SHARED40 years · cross-culture · cross-category
That early 2000s handbag with its bold red piping and geometric cutouts speaks the same visual language as the 1970s belt's stark rectangular buckle — both pieces treat leather as architecture, carving out negative space with surgical precision. The bag's circular void and the belt's linear metal frame are separated by three decades, but they share DNA from the same modernist impulse that values geometric form over ornamental fuss.
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