Make Your Own Rope Belt

I noticed a belt by Isabel Marant being sold for $75 on Net-a-Porter last week. Initially I thought: Oh, that seems like a decent deal given the common denominator (multiple zeros to end a number as opposed to just one) among the anterior’s more popular prices, but then I took a second look at the photographed belt to realize that what was being sold, frankly, was a piece of rope. One eerily similar to the version I’ve had folded in my desk for the past three months after I untied it from the vase of an elaborate floral arrangement.

I kept it because I thought to myself: self, this might look cool tied over a dress.

Then last week, when I saw and expressed vague fury for the $75 version by Marant (ostensibly to the chagrin of Esther, whose hunched head perking up with a kind of embarrassed introspect at my acknowledgement seemed to suggest she had fallen for the branded string), I pulled the yacht strand out of my desk and replaced my belt with it.

Call it the world’s most accessible DIY or just a rope around my waist — either way it’s easy, looks cool and will effectively work with most outfits you’ll conceptualize. Try tying it at the waist of a white silk blouse worn with white pants to create a peplum, or just over a plain old dress, or, I don’t know, string a bunch of Doritos through it.

Lesson: Don’t underestimate your next floral arrangement’s garnish.

(And also: even though my pants are high waist and navy, don’t mention the sailor semblance lest you want Amelia to literally try to have sex with me.)

Chalayan turtleneck, Iro jacket, Rachel Comey pants, Superga x MR sneakers, Ralph Lauren sunglasses