Claire’s Pick of the Best Belt Bags

I spent around four years refusing to accept belt bags were anything other than a phase. A fanny pack that spent too much money on marketing, and one that I was fully intending to wait out with my arms stubbornly folded. Then I spent an entire weekend carrying food festival cargo with both hands completely free. No strap digging into my shoulder. No bag forgotten under a table somewhere in Kent. And I had to concede that I’d been proven wrong in public. Which is honestly one of my least favourite things to do.

Ones that sit right are mostly about how they fit vs how they look hanging off you on a display board. You want a strap that adjusts well and doesn’t flop round to sit at the small of your back as soon as you take a step. You want it to keep it’s shape when you’ve only got half of whats in it in there, not immediately become slack and lifeless as soon as you take your phone out. Size is also more important than you’d think, big enough to fit a phone, card, keys and lip balm. Small enough that it doesn’t try and bash its way down your side like a bumbag with an identity crisis.

Leather or a structured fabric benefits hugely from this as well. Because a fabric that just hangs off you looks like a mistake you’re wearing.

Styling-wise, it kind of demands something simple underneath. Plain tee. Slip dress. A good coat. Something that gives it room to be the detail rather than fighting your bag or a busy top for the spotlight.

Crossed over a blazer it feels neat enough for daytime. Belted round your waist with a dress feels slightly cooler, slightly less try hard. I throw mine over my denim jacket more than I care to admit, because it stops my jacket looking like it’s trying to swallow me whole.

As far as occasion goes this is pretty much the only bag that I honestly feel works for almost everything that involves standing up for long periods of time. Festivals, duh. Day trips with the family where someone else will inevitably end up using your bag to hold their water bottle. Weekend city breaks where you don’t want to worry about your bag pulling you off course when you’re consulting a map. Weddings, if they’re the kind with a marquee and dancing on grass so you know you’ll be up dancing till midnight. It’s not pretending to be practical so you can take it out, it’s properly practical and occasionally goes out. And I’m glad I came round to that way of thinking.