I've found my belt buying patterns have changed over the last couple of years. I used to only buy all leather belts. But then I started trying wilder colors and patterns and I loosened up my all-leather restriction. In the past year, I've bought belts:
At Target--they always carry a great basic belt that looks like a not-too-shiny-patent in tons of fun colors for about $12. It looks identical to my real leather patent belts that I bought from Nordstrom for $30 or more. I bought a ton of colors and a white belt at Target and they've been great for their purpose. I buy belts at Target when I need a color for a specific outfit and I'm not willing to wait for a better quality one to come around or I don't think I'll be wearing it a whole lot. My mustard, fuchsia and white belts all came from Target.
At Macy's--Angie helped me pick out my beloved silver belt at Macy's. It isn't all leather, but it looks quite nice. Silver can be a pretty low durability finish, so the benefit of this was that it was inexpensive and can be replaced with little pain. It also let me try out a trend that I didn't know if I would love with minimal expense.
At Ann Taylor--At the end of the season like now, I've often scored incredible belts for $10 or $12 dollars. I just picked up a skinny leopard print calf skin at mine a few days ago for $12.50 (1/2 off of clearance). I have a couple snake prints from last year and a great red belt, which incidentally looks almost identical to one that I bought at Target.
At JCrew--Same deal. IN-credible end of season deals. Great quality. I bought my wide leopard print calf skin belt from JCrew because it was such beautiful quality. I also have bought a whole bunch of fun, colorful patent leather belts there for $10 or $15 at the end of the season.
