Reconstruction Advice - The Military Belt

The military belt is the real symbol of the Roman soldier, it should be flashy and have a genuine 'bling' appearance! Wear yours with pride. Try and go for something that makes you stand out as different, don’t just copy others, this was not a standard issue item. Mixing two or more similar types of plate is fine, just try and make sure they are similar sizes. Make sure you get your plates tinned, or part tinned so as to make raised decoration stand out. Silver is another authentic, yet expensive option. Black niello decoration is fine, where copied from originals, as is cherry red enamel, where copied.

It makes sense to buy the plates separately and mount them yourself, or get another society member to do it for you, so you can save money. There is good evidence for red dyed leather. A growing school of thought is pushing for the leather to be constructed from at least two stitched pieces, as opposed to one thick piece. Aprons can be of four to eight separate strips. Some early variants of aprons were made by splitting the body of the main belt into separate strips which passed through the buckle. This style was still being used by standard bearers in our era.