| "Belt buckles were a common fashion item at the turn of the century. Most of the well-known silver manufacturers made them, as did many lesser known silver makers. This was the age of art nouveau, a flowering of design based on natural themes of flora and fauna, as well as mythically beautiful women with flowing hair. Also known as the Belle Epoque, the design style of the time featured fantasy creatures, fairies and whiplash curves. In his essay "The Belle Epoque and the Belt Buckle" in Art Nouveau Buckles (published 2000), Ulrike von Hase-Schmundt declares "The Belle Epoque made it indispensable again - the belt buckle or clasp. Unlike necklaces or finger rings and pendants, it is the only type of adornment of any practical use." Fashion between 1890 and the first World War called for a slender waist, attained with the aid of a corset, emphasized by a belt and enhanced by an eye-catching buckle (Art Nouveau Buckles - Taaschen, 2000.) Even the arrival of the arts and crafts style in the early 1900's, with its more comfortable loose-waisted garments, frequently called for dramatically positioned belts and buckles to be worn just under the bustline. This slide is the front page of a 1902 catalog of Gorham Manufacturing Co., illustrating its line of belt buckles, belt pins and clasps. Fortunately for me, many of these buckles were important jewelry pieces to their owners, and were carefully preserved. As a result, a remarkable number of buckles have survived the intervening century." |
