Brief History of Cowboy Belt Buckle and Few of it Types

Belt buckles have become an essential fashion accessory to highlight a man's waist. It is evident in movies and other television shows with celebrities showcasing and wearing them. Before mounting your horse to go and grab those silver cowboy belt buckles, how about you learn the history of these buckles and know their different types.

History of belt buckles

If you love wearing belt buckles, you should know that in 1822 Albert Thurston first introduced belt buckles to the world. Although people associate belt buckles with the west and their western wear, however, it was the Roman soldiers who embraced them as part of their accessories in the middle ages. It was during the civil world when buckle belts were introduced to the military that many blacksmiths started its mass production that had let to the falling of prices that even cowboys could wear them.

In early 1930-1950, we could witness Hollywood stars gracing the screen wearing the modern buckle belts. To cite one example, in the 1969 movie True Gift, John Wayne was wearing buckle belts and completing his overall cowboy look.

Today, wearing buckle belts is more like a trend and they come in different shapes, designs and sizes.

Types of buckle belts that you should know

1. The tongue buckles

These kinds of buckles are mostly designed with metal loops and pin. There are two types of tongue buckles- the classic ones that have a prong attached to a bar and the conventional buckles that comprise the bar, prong, and frame.

2. The auto-grip buckles

The auto-grip buckles have a stylish grip feature and they are created in a way to give more power to hold, and these types of belts are often worn casually.

3. The Navasota buckles

If you are a Texan cowboy, the Navasota buckles can be the best options to choose. They are the solid sterling silver buckles with the touch of western hand engraving and a sterling Texas Longhorn.

Most actors in the early days are remembered with the cowboy look and style. If you want to pay tribute to Hollywood actors on the early or mid 20th century, you can look for silver cowboy belt buckles and put on those cowboy outfits.

Various Elements that Men Need to Include in their Attire

Fashion is something that is not just about looks but should give comfort as well to individuals. There are so many elements that every man needs to incorporate in his attire. Your everyday outfit should be just smart but functional also. To increase the functionality of your attire, given below are the few elements that men can include in their attire.

1. Belts: Majority of the men use a belt on an everyday basis and still do not give much attention to it. If you want to tweak a subtle alteration to your attire, get your hands on the animal belt buckles. The handcrafted buckles can help in reflecting one’s spirit or personality.

If you are looking for a more classic animal belt buckles instead of buying from a physical outlet, give a shot to online websites. Prospective seekers can easily buy them at a cost-effective price without even struggle with any hassle.

2. Cufflinks/stud sets: A three-piece suit is incomplete without cufflinks. Even, if you are going to a wedding or some other formal event and wearing a tuxedo, do not forget to include cufflinks. Many websites also design cufflinks as per the customer’s preferences.

3. Wallet: Thinking of going out without carrying a wallet sounds a bit weird. If you don’t want to lose your credit cards and cash, get a nice wallet. Keeping cards and cash in your pocket increases the chances of losing them.

4. Bracelets: Undeniably, accessories are visual cues to your personality. Interesting accessories always grab attention. You might find strangers begin approaching you more often when you wear a bracelet that looks fascinating. Wearing a bracelet can also be a great conversation starter. It could be an ice-breaker. Eye-catching accessory definitely sets you apart.

Fashion is a broad term that encompasses a broad array of elements including functionality and comfort. Belt is one of the elements that is generally overlooked by majority of the people. An addition of animal belt buckles can change your entire attire. Before going out include the aforementioned accessories in your outfit that can make you look good and amp up its functionality also.

How Money Clips are Better Than Wallets

Many top menswear magazine editors noticed that when it comes to men’s entire attire, bulky wallets seem like a soar in the eyes. An overstuffed wallet doesn’t give a nice impression. Either it shows disorganization or negligence about the better facets of style. To tackle these problems two hacks can be considered. First is decrease the stuff of your wallet and secondly, carry a money clip for your cash, identification and credit cards.

Money clips have come into notice a few hundred years ago, but they have gained popularity once banknotes became more frequently used. Before that, people kept purses and wallets to keep currencies. Both men and women can use it. Money clips are available in various shapes, sizes and styles and suit any taste, preference and budget.

Nowadays, if you are looking for a gifting option, feel free to buy custom silver money clip. What’s better than giving something to your loved ones that help them to keep the money safely?

Render a personal touch to handmade money clips by adding initials of the receiver’s name, logos or a custom design. Are you wondering why one needs to invest in custom silver money clips? If yes, the most possible answer is they are elegant and durable.

A bulky wallet doesn’t just look bad but also affects your health. Yes, you read it right. When you sit on a wallet that is present in your trousers' pocket, it distorts your spine, twists your hips, exerts pressure on your spine and causes it to be out of alignment. Sitting on your wallet mangle your alignment and scrunches the sciatic nerve, which runs from each side of the spine down through the back of each thigh to the foot. A compressed sciatic nerve causes searing leg pain and numbness called sciatica. In the wallet, you are tempted to keep a bolt of cash, IDs, credit/debit cards, and many other things you don’t even need. Contrary to money clips, one is compelled to trim unnecessary items to the essentials. They do not ruin ID cards or swipe strips on credit cards.

A custom silver money clip is undoubtedly a useful invention that doesn’t just help people to keep money safely, but also prevent them from facing posture-related issues.

Suit Your Style With These Tips On Wearing A Stud Cufflink

Learning to look like a gentleman, and impress everyone with your style. Stud cufflinks are just the thing to compliment your suit or tuxedo. These cufflinks first appeared in the 1600s, and men of royalty and wealth wore them. Then men began to wear them fashionably in the late 1800s and well into the 1900s. Coco Chanel is the main purveyor of stud cufflinks.

Stud cufflinks come in every color, style, and variety imaginable. When the 1950s emerged, gentlemen began to own many accessories. Men donned items such as the watch, ring, tie bar, cigarette case, lighter, money clip, and a collection of such cufflinks. Most of the shirts produced in the 1970s came with buttons and buttonholes. The cufflink trend went away to push in the counter culture movement. Men usually wear stud cufflinks at formal and semi-formal functions. Lately, men have worn cufflinks with casual wear. So wear stud cufflinks whenever you want. But make sure the suit or tuxedo has a stud hole to fit the cufflink and the occasion.

How To Wear A Stud Cufflink?

1. With your shirt on, pinch the cuffs of your sleeve together in the manner shown. You may be tempted to fold the edges of the cuffs together to form a cylinder or barrel shape.

2. Insert the cufflink through both holes in the shirt's cuff. The colored, decorative part of the cufflink (usually black or ivory), should face the outside when your arm is at your side. On the back side of the cuff, flip the bar to hold the cufflink in place.

3. On the backside of the cuff, flip the bar to hold the cufflink in place.

Conclusion

Stud cufflinks can be worn with either single cuffs, which look just like a regular buttoning dress shirt's cuffs but with holes on both sides of the opening, or with doubled-back “French” cuffs. French cuffs are done by folding the shirt cuff and then fastening it, creating a double-layered cuff.

9 Unique Way To Use a Pocket Knife

Someone who is not familiar with knives that are compact and which easily fit in the pocket may react in fascination when they see it for the first time. These type of knives are popularly known as pocket knife, that can be used to accomplish various mundane tasks and come in handy when surviving in a jungle environment. And unlike switchblade, carrying a western style pocket knife is fairly easy since, it is has low or no restrictions in the various states. Since you should not be afraid to carry it, let’s look at some of its unique uses which you may haven’t heard before.

Unboxing sealed packages

You may have seen so many unboxing videos, but did you ever thought about doing this? Using your pocket knife to cut open an Amazon package? Yes, you can accomplish with the help of a pocket knife.

Cutting hair

This may not give you a very “stylish” look, but using a pocket knife is doable in such scenarios. This is mostly done by women to get rid of long hair.

Removing staples

Staples can be helpful and equally annoying if not pressed in the right way. Whatever it be, when you do not have a dedicated staple remover and can only manage a western style pocket knife, use it to effortlessly pry open a staple.

Cutting zip ties

The only way to remove most types of zip ties is by cutting them. These inexpensive fasteners are primarily used along with cables, and a pocket knife can free whatever the zip ties are holding together.

Sharpening pencils

Individuals, mostly artists, sometimes require much more than just a pencil sharpener for their pencil. This is where western style pocket knives come in handy. These knives, created using sterling silver and stainless steel can be purchased from a bunch on online stores, which also have a host of customization options, can be used to cut a pencil in various ways as per requirements come.

Cutting meat

Using a pocket knife to cut your steak is said to make the food more enjoyable.

Holding money

You can use the clip of the pocket knife as a money clip to hold your money.

Shaving

Using a pocket knife as a razor can get the job done most of the times, as it makes for an adequate razor-like device.

Opening a bottle

Need to grab a beer but don’t have an opener? Fret not and use your pocket knife for the same. Simply hold the bottle by wrapping your fingers just below the opening. Then keep the sharp end of the knife in between the gap of the cap and your fingers, apply pressure upwards to open the bottle.

How to Choose Cufflink For Different Occasions

Whether you should wear a cufflink or not, greatly depends on the shirt we are wearing. Our attire varies according to the occasion, so you need to be very sure whether the cuff goes with the attire or not, especially shirts. Although cufflinks are best worn with formal shirts, there are plenty of stripped-back and playful designs available in the market including sterling engraved cuffs that work as part of a more dressed-down look. Different cufflinks can be chosen for the following occasions:-

Business or Corporate Meetings - You want to look as professional as possible when you are In a business meeting. So when it comes to business attire, it is better to steer clear of anything that is too crazy or fancy. But, you can still experiment with different colors, patterns and materials. You can match the metal of your sterling engraved cufflink to the accessories that you are wearing such as your tie clip, etc.

Weddings - If worn correctly, a sterling engraved cuff can be a great value addition to your outfit in a wedding party. Cufflinks meant for weddings are supposed to be less formal, so you can experiment more and explore more variety.

Black Tie events - Sterling engraved cuffs are perfect for black tie events. They are made from more luxurious materials, like crystals and precious stones, so you are able to conform to more sophisticated dressing needs. Anything comical or novelty must be avoided like the plague.

Informal outings - When going for an informal outing, wear cufflinks of materials, such as wood, leather, wood or metal. Adding a twist to the usual cufflink makes them perfect for revealing your winning personality, and add a little sparkle to your ensemble.

Shop only for genuine, handcrafted pairs of cufflinks from a reputable online or offline store. You will find dozens of styles to suit all occasions ranging from graduations to birthdays to weddings and black tie events.

Add sophistication to your look. Shop for the right cufflinks!

How To Incorporate Western Fashion In Your Wardrobe

In the last few seasons, western or cowboy fashion has seen increased resurgence. Cowboy boots and peasant blouses have become a staple on the fashion scene. Calvin Klein, under the helm of Raf Simons, redefined what it meant to dress like a cowboy or girl. When his first collection with the brand, which consisted of denim shirts with contrasting pocket flaps and $1,400 silver-toed cowboy boots, dropped, it immediately sold out. So, if you are looking to update your wardrobe and give it a fresh new twist, you might want to incorporate some yeehaw. If $1,400 boots aren’t your thing, there are plenty of different options for you- ranging from silver western buckles to printed silk scarves to cowgirl inspired dresses.

Here is a list of few items that you can add to your wardrobe to inject some spirit of the wild, wild West.

1. Cowboy boots:
Don’t worry, you do not have to spend thousands of dollars to look like you belong in a ranch in the West. There are many brands that offer affordable cowboy boots, and there is nothing like a good pair of boots to add some edge to your outfit.

2. Belts:
Belts are one of the most versatile accessories. You can always pair a good belt with a silver western buckle with pants, skirts and dresses for a western nod to your look.

3. Scarves:
Nothing screams western like a beautiful printed silk scarf wrapped around your neck. Adding a scarf to a monotonous outfit will also elevate the look and give it an interesting twist.

4. Denim:
Denim is a wardrobe staple for almost everyone. Similarly, it has also been a part of the cowboy culture for hundreds of years. To achieve the perfect cowboy look, invest in a good pair of western-styled denims. High-waisted flared denims with a pair of cowboy boots never fails. 

5. Bags:
Suede and faux leather bags with fringe detailing are all the rage among western fashion enthusiasts. They are not just easy to find but also affordable. Add such a bag to your look and seamlessly channel your inner cowgirl without being OTT.