How often does your bedroom floor turn into a writhing mass of alligators, crocs, skinny snakes, Cos ropes, chains, reversible inside-outs, corsets, calfskins, Khaite Bambi pythons, coiled Kooples, and uncoiled half keepers, discarded Chloe scripts, single-prong braided Timberlands, and rejected Arkets?

The same number of times you have found your partner’s closet littered with classic Churches and buffalos and strewn with airplane seatbelts and Needles?

Sid Mashburn belt

Fashions change. Just like waists. You can’t run away from it. No belt is forever. A classic hourglass soon becomes a faux hourglass. One day, we all have to shed our Loewe anagrams, Eliot Rhodes cordovans, Bad Boy Italian Andersons, Duke + Dexters, edit out the GGs and signature Paul Smith and Tom Ford buckles, and leave the All Saints Ramskull Stirges to the professional belt models with tiny waists and no appetites.

Sid Mashburn Raffia belt

Some people collect shoes. Others collect belts. No one wants to throw away a belt. They always think they’ll fit back into it. Choosing the right belt is no cinch. It drives you loopy.

In the UK, sooner or later, your go-to all seasons, all seasons of life belts become not so logo-heavy mid-range Reiss squares, bars, Heathers, Hayleys, and sculpted buckle tubular tie Taras or, for the men, Aspinal’s of London all-purpose, reliable hoisting, gravity-defying smooth cognac or woven leather in deep shine Amazon croc.

Sid Mashburn
Sid Mashburn

In the US, your hips and waists go-to people in the US are Sid and Ann MashburnThey won’t let you down.

Ann Mashburn
Ann Mashburn

“For me, belts don’t date themselves as much as the clothes they cinch,” says Ann. “But can’t get rid of mine. I still have a fantastic, wide patent leather one I wore with a very specific Karl Lagerfeld dress. The belt remains, but the dress has gone on to one of my five daughters. They remind me of wearing it with that navy linen dress to a great wedding on a boat in New York Harbor. I also have three amazing Ralph Lauren exotics from the late 80s with classic silver buckles. They remind me of early motherhood in Connecticut to spend more time at home and go into the city once a week.”

You and your favorite belt go through a lot together.

“You need to decide, when you make the investment, how you will wear it most often and designate it accordingly,” says Ann. “Is it a high-rise waist belt? A low-slung hip belt? Somewhere in between? A compression buckle is a little better, but the perfect fit at your hips will still give you too much belt left over when you pull it up to your waist. 

Cobalt Calhoun D Ring Sid MAsh

“Our Conroy was designed so that you can adjust it easily for the waist or hips. If you’ve got something that is a bit too big or blousy, you can grab that belt and fix it by emphasizing your waist and changing the proportion. It’s a bit like a Swiss Army knife for your wardrobe. It can make just a t-shirt and jeans feel luxe. It elevates! Sid and I both have zebra skin belts, and we try very hard not to show up at the office wearing them on the same day. “

ANN MASHburn Conroy cognac

Ann opened her shop and her collection in 2010, Sid having opened his next door on the West Side of Atlanta, Georgia. Three years earlier. Am assisted Vogue fashion editor and stylist Polly Mellen before becoming Glamour‘s fashion editorand then a stylist at J.Crew.

 “The shop and e-shop ( www.shomashburn.com ) is an extension of my closet!!”

Sid was a designer for capital L-luxury brands such as Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, and Lands’ End. He designed J.Crew’s Barn Jacket.

Nowadays, he kits men out in chocolate pull-ups, Bombay stitches, Tobacco suede, Havana bridle, oak bridle, khaki.  horn back, black sharkskin, matte alligator, hand-loomed watermelon tribal and olive, gold or bone 1” raffia.

There are Sid and Ann Mashburn have stores in Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, New York City, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles.

$550 ZEBRA HIDE

Says Mississippi-born Sid (his parents ran a Cash ‘n’ Carry store in Brandon): “We all know belts stack up through the years. The answer is fewer belts that go with more things. My ace belt – the one I wear with suits to shorts and everything in between – is a one-inch chocolate brown. A one-piece strap that took us a year and a half to get right.  With unlacquered brass buckles. The patina you can easily swap out. So you can go wild with any occasion or mood.  Arrowhead or oyster shell for jeans and sport shirts, and fishhooks for polos. Plaques are popular.

“The best thing about both these leathers is that they age beautifully. I compare them to a piece of vintage furniture. Treat them to Saphir Revonateur from time to time. 

Sid mashburn O Ring

“Although you don’t want to start getting into Gunsmoke territory, you need a belt with a little personality to it! Your belt should be a decorative piece. Belts are great wingmen. My rule is that if my pants have loops, I’m wearing a belt. Tighten up your act, and you take it up our elegance a notch or two!

“Our design philosophy is to make clothes that can take you from Mississippi to Manhattan to Milan. A mashup of classic American style with Neapolitan ease, Southern hospitality, and a touch of British quirk. Quintessential menswear that doesn’t take itself too seriously. We’re here for the guys who are “into clothes, and those who aren’t. You don’t need a lot of choices. You just need the right choices.”