Exercise in Utility: Double Hole Canvas Belts

The "utility look" is big fashion news this spring, with everyone from Gap to Galliano going for epaulets and grommets in a big way.

The concept isn't new, of course--khaki and sand-colored cotton reappear perennially under the names "safari look," or "military look,"--but the genius this time around is in fashion having lit on a term that sounds hip and economically-mindful at the same time. Utility! Yeah, I need more of that!

You probably have a lot of this kind of stuff already. There's only one item that seems to me a must, if you care about trend-riding to any degree, and that is a two-holed canvas belt, like the one issued by Burberry above. (Aside--I love how bleached the model looks in this photo--not just her hair, but the whole package, as if she'd been plucked from the deadwood on a windy beach somewhere).

Anyway, the belt. Burberry's version will run over £125/$200. An army-surplus version will be two decimal points cheaper. Burberry's hardware and canvas will be much nicer, obviously, but if, as they say, it's all about utility, the secondhand versions can do it, yes they can.

(photo by David Sims in American Vogue, January 2010)