I was discussing the ‘no-belt’ look with a friend yesterday, and he was skeptical about it. I am 100% pro ‘no-belt.’ As a general rule, I think that just wearing a button down shirt tucked into pants never looks right. On models, they tailor the shirts to be skin tight and can prepare each shot to look perfect. This doesn’t happen in real life, even if your shirts are perfectly tailored. The shirts bunch, they billow, they get twisted. Even with a nice belt, after a few minutes it just doesn’t look good. Therefore, I try to always cover the belt area with a vest, a sweater, a blazer, something so that you look put together by having your shirt tucked in, but you don’t have to worry about keeping it straight. That said, a man’s pants should fit tightly around the waist. If this is the case, no belt is needed. They are a relatively new piece of fashion anyway. Men wore braces (suspenders) for generations before belts came onto the scene. According to this site, the belt was invented in 1812 by Sam Browne, who needed a place to hang his sword after losing his arm in battle. Another history says that belts became functional only in the 1920s, when men’s trouser waist lines began to drop below the natural waist. Before that time belts were generally only used by the military as a decorative uniform accent. Either way, a tailored pant is much more necessary than a belt, and if you aren’t sure, cover it with a sweater! Problem solved.