A Belt Buying Spree

I helped a family friend with her closets the other weekend, which entailed dumping the contents of her wardrobe on the bed, and then making her try every single item on. Grace is tall (6'0") like me, and she's also busty, which has hammered the idea that she's "big" into her head. Well, she's not. She has a great body; it's just difficult to see it because she never learned how to shop for her figure. She's been favoring voluminous, tent-like tops (of which there are a preponderance on the market), instead of picking tailored pieces that carve out her waist. And, shockingly, Grace doesn't understand the power of the belt (she had only two). I know we make the point a lot, but we have a brand-new video series all about styling tricks--and the first one is about the belt's workhorse capacities.

So I'm guessing it was with Grace in mind that I shopped Los Angeles this past week. I bought two more to add to my collection, including this elasticized seed belt option from Free People. The West Hollywood store is housed in the very cool Urban Outfitters branded Space15Twenty, which also hosts What Comes Around Goes Around and the great architecture and art bookstore, Hennessey & Ingalls.