Belts and suspenders?
What’s the deal with guys who wear belts and suspenders (braces) at the same time? What happened to them to make them so paranoid about their pants falling down? Maybe that’s too harsh–maybe they’ve just got a terribly misguided sense of style. All I know is that it kinda freaks me out whenever I see a dude wearing a belt and suspenders at the same time.
Around where I live, it’s mostly farmer/logger types that are the style victim. I’ve gotta give those guys the benefit of the doubt, though. I don’t know enough about the kind of work they do, but maybe there’s a very real possiblity that some wayward piece of logging equipment is prone to pulling down logger’s pants, and the belt/suspender combo is just the defense against such malfunction. Who knows.
When I play amateur psychologist, I imagine that guys who wear belts and suspenders simultaneously must have lived through some traumatic pants-falling-down experience. Then I try to imagine what that might be. They got “pantsed” in gym class? Their pant leg got caught in their bicycle chain and they didn’t notice until they were already laying on the ground and their pants were wrapped around the back wheel? Again, who knows. I do know that my own personal traumatic experience, in the eighth grade, of getting pushed into the gym wearing only my jockstrap was probably damaging to my psyche, but not quite damaging enough for me to wear two layers of pants security. So it’s hard to imagine what those guys must have gone through.
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20 opinions for Belts and suspenders?
Pascal Venier
May 19, 2006 at 9:38 am
Would you like to be loosing your pants doing this? ;-)
See:
The shot is of a logger involvel in moving logs down using a traditional sledge in Eastern France.
see also a German example:
Pascal Venier
May 19, 2006 at 9:39 am
Would you like to be loosing your pants doing this? ;-)
See: http://www.vosges.fr/cg88/image/img_123133756.jpg
The shot is of a logger involvel in moving logs down using a traditional sledge in Eastern France.
see also a German example:
http://www.efsd.de/quoi_de_neuf/lutten_2004/images/KICX0694.jpg
Dennis Sherman
May 19, 2006 at 9:52 am
Suspenders hold the pants up. The belt is to hang things from — knife, cell phone, etc.
Bren
May 19, 2006 at 9:58 am
Don’t hang stuff from your belt, that’s what your man-purse is for! :-)
Jason J. Thomas
May 19, 2006 at 10:01 am
I never understood those who wear belts with suits. I am a stickler for wearing suspenders/braces when wearing suits. To me, a belt simply does not justice to the entire ensemble.
Eric
May 21, 2006 at 9:00 am
Bren,
My pants fell off on the football field while I was marching in my High School Band. I slowly shuffled off of the field and got behind a building and fixed the broken clip. I laughed my butt off.
I was the topic of conversation that night, but it was funny. It has not damaged me in any way. That was 25 years ago. Actually I forget to wear my belt sometimes and I am not a suspenders-kinda-guy. ;)
Max Leibman
May 21, 2006 at 4:47 pm
When I coach people, one thing I do to help them get moving in the face of fears is encourage them to create multiple, backup safety nets if they need to–if a fear is legitimate, it’s a natural way to move past it. So, in short, if any of these guys you’ve seen have ever worked with me, this might be my fault.
Seriously, though, I share your fashion angst. I like suspenders (when I’m wearing a suit, anyhow), but the very thought of suspenders if my pants have so much as belt loops gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Crosius
May 22, 2006 at 8:24 pm
I knew a Paramedic who got ulcers on her hips from the weight of her utility-belt.
She subsequently wore bracers to distribute the weight of the belt between her hips and her shoulders, and the ulcers didn’t recur.
Humans have some spots that don’t handle pressure well.
Wayne Turmel
May 23, 2006 at 7:38 pm
Bren, there are plenty of managers who need both belts and suspenders before they’ll leave the house- both the literal and metaphorical kind. Whether they have no faith in their fashion sense or too much faith in Gravity is not for me to say. Of course, my attitude is why wear pants, so what do I know?
By the way, The Cranky Middle Manager Show turns one year old this week- thanks for being a great guest and one of the first to turn people on to it. Check out show 48 (48!!!) at http://cmm.thepodcastnetwork.com
Brandon
May 24, 2006 at 5:45 pm
Suspenders with a suit? It must be a generational thing as I certainly could not imagine wearing suspenders with a suit nor have I ever seen anyone that I’ve worked with do so. Suspenders would ruin the line of your shirt when your jacket is off. You can’t have that.
Billimek's Blog
May 26, 2006 at 9:05 am
How to avoid office politics…
Being fairly new here at Turner/EA, I haven’t experienced any office politics or even know if they exist……
John Richardson
May 26, 2006 at 10:40 am
People who suffer from Dunlop’s disease (where your stomach done lops over your belt) may need to wear suspenders with a belt as well as those with TOS (technology overload syndrome). A lightweight paper Walleteer may be a good replacement for those overbearing five pound PDA’s and micro laptops that end up clipped around your waist.
If your local fashion accessory store does not carry suspenders, you can always substitute multiple Helium balloons with stout cords. Cords in this situation must allow the ballons to rise above eye level as not to obstruct one’s vision.
Dwayne Melancon
May 28, 2006 at 4:34 pm
Robert Orr - a dear, departed friend of mine - used to wear both a belt and suspenders. I asked him why one day, and he told me:
“I’ve always preferred suspenders, but one day I got too fat to wear them alone. If I don’t wear a belt with my suspenders, I look too much like a funnel.”
mauri macy
May 28, 2006 at 7:47 pm
A lasting mental picture from a quick weekend in NYC a few years back is ten (or so) young Italian waiters lined up along a wall in a small restaurant in Little Italy (on Mulberry Street). They all had black pants/shoes/ties and white shirts…and their most striking fashion feature—black suspenders and black belts. They didn’t really look afraid of anything…except maybe the head waiter.
Population Statistic
Jun 10, 2006 at 1:33 pm
BELT-AND-SUSPENDERS SIGHTING…
Abi
Jun 16, 2006 at 8:01 am
This post and these comments made me glad that I’m a woman working in a ‘business casual’ environment. I’m sure I own a belt, I just haven’t seen it since I moved last summer.
Anonymous
Jun 16, 2006 at 9:27 am
Abi, This might not be such a good sign if your pants no longer need a belt to stop them from falling. It is perhaps time to loose a few pounds. ;-)
Abi
Jun 16, 2006 at 10:29 am
You’re right, I can’t go through life weighing 872 lbs. :) Oh, the horrors!
I know very few girls in DC that wear belts. I always think of them as something from my mom’s generation.
Though, sometimes I do with that I wore a belt so that I could just clip everything through it instead of carrying a purse. Darn purses.
Pascal Venier
Jun 16, 2006 at 10:56 am
I fear we may need to keep our eyes on the ball, for Brendon initially referred to “belts and suspendenders”. Now, presumably both suspender belts or strap suspender belt might well be slightly off topic. :)
Bren
Jun 16, 2006 at 11:16 am
No worries. I’ll always humor humor! :-)