STUDDED & JEWELED BELT ON THE TELE

Flipping through the cornucopia of crappy channels tonight, I happened upon something worth watching - the Country Music Awards.  During a performance by Brad Paisley, I was surprised to finally see someone famous sporting a studded and jeweled belt.  One would think that as popular as these belts have been over the past ten or so years, they would be more common in the public eye.

These belts first appeared in the 1930's. They were western belts that were sold through mail-order catalogs and mid-level department stores which also later became synonymous with biker fashion.  A huge collector of the original belts is Zip Stevenson (HTC/Stevenson Overall Co./Denim Doctor) who has been reproducing these them since the late 1990's / early 2000's under Hollywood Trading Company.  He is also a collector and reproducer of early 20th century workwear - Zip will be the subject on one of my next posts.

1984 - Bruce Springteen's Album cover for Born in the U.S.A, as pointed out by razalas