Invest in the Waist, introduction.

Dear Reader,

This is the inaugural post of a project that I see as ongoing, a future website dedicated to luxury goods for adorning the waist, from belts with great buckles, vests and other clothes that emphasize the waist, corsets, the list will no doubt expand as people contribute their ideas.  The goods will be curated by me, and will reflect my own taste and vision.  In addition to items for sale, the blog and website will have information about the anatomy and importance of the waist from those who know, and tips on diet, exercise, all the ways to regain your waist and keep it.

What does "Invest in the Waist" mean you might ask.  As someone who has been working on getting themselves into shape, and has regained their waist, I see it as both the things that one might wear, such as great belt buckles and belts, to the work and diet that it took to get the waist back. To regain my waist I have invested money, time and effort, going to trainers and pilates, and changing my diet. As a result of a changed figure, I've purchased a new wardrobe, another investment, the fun part. 

I first heard the phrase in late November 2013. I was invited by an old friend to a post Thanksgiving party at his fabulous estate on the Hudson near Rhinebeck.  I was surprised when I arrived by the size of the party, which I thought would be intimate, but instead it was a big party and I hardly knew anyone.  But people were friendly and I ended up chatting with a beautiful young woman, tall, slender, beautifully dressed in a black dress with black high heels with rhinestones on their toes. I was wearing a new purchase, a huge Barry Kieselstein Cord silver belt buckle of a snake, that I had bought from a friend who used to work for him.  This young woman noticed it, and it lead her to relate a story; she was in a shop in NYC, managed by a French woman, who was smoking in the store. The young lady was impressed by the shopkeeper's insouciance, and was looking at a belt trying it on, but undecided.  The woman, from across the store, said to her, "Invest in the waist". As she told me the story, the lights went on in my mind when I heard that phrase.  How perfect, it speaks to my own story, I've invested in getting in shape, regained my waist and now a new wardrobe to complement it.  The next morning, even slightly hung over, I purchased the domain name.  So it begins.

The Barry Kieselstein-Cord sterling silver snake buckle.

Why the waist?  The waist is at the center of our bodies, it holds our vital organs, and is the midway point between our head and our feet,  The size of our waist relative to our height is a key indicator of health and fitness, and is frequently brought up in news coverage of what is termed an epidemic of obesity in our country. Because it is so vital to our health and being, I think it well worth investing in. In reality it is another way to say, invest in yourself, invest in your health, but the image of the waist is central to my conception of beauty in the human body.  I have made rings in the past, now onto buckles, my own and others that I deem beautiful.

I want to bring in people in the fields of health, Pilates instructors, physicians of Western and Eastern medicine, to tell us in their words more about the anatomy and significance of the waist in relation to the whole person and their wellness.  I want to feature products on the website that emphasize or adorn the waist, from belts and their buckles, to vests, corsets, whatever people have created.  I'd also like to bring in people who know about the more spiritual aspects of the body and the significance of the waist in Chinese medicine or other traditions.

One of the challenges of my new figure has been clothing it.  Most men's shirts sold, both on lower and often on the higher end of cost, are intended for people with larger waists than I have for my size.  I will feature mens clothing lines that have clothes flattering to the waist, that I find or that others bring to my attention. Women don't have this problem so much, women's clothes are made for narrow waists, and in fact they have the opposite issue, the body image of women is unrealistically slender.  For men, who I guess don't have to look good in our culture, clothes in general are intended for much less fit bodies.

While this all may seem somewhat superficial, I don't think the condition of our bodies is so.  The body is the vehicle for our soul, the only one we know of, let's take care of it so that we can enjoy this world and life as long as possible in good health.  Our waist is one of the key indicators of the condition of our body, and the first one that people notice at a glance.