Officer Dress Belts

Officer cadet with double-buckle "S" shaped loop belt, 1967, RVNHS Archive.

       Keeping with the topic of the recent acquisition by RVNHS of the officer cadet photographs, we wanted to make a brief posting on the topic of officer dress belts. There were two main patterns employed, which were a single buckle or double-buckle with "S" shaped loop. The buckles were gold colored while the belts were black. The single buckle belts had length loop adjusters on each side in gold colored metal (same as the buckle), while the double-buckle variant had only one adjuster in the same black color and material as the belt. Such belts were for the most part worn to accompany swords, and were used on ceremonial occasions. Included in this posting are original examples of each pattern of belt in the RVNHS Archive, and two additional portraits form the recent photographic acquisition, which show these two patterns in period use.

Double-buckle with "S" shaped loop officer dress belt, RVNHS Archive.

Officer cadet with single buckle officer dress belt, 1960-70s, RVNHS Archive.

Single buckle officer dress belt, RVNHS Archive.