Bullet belts

Fashion Synopsis

Bullet belts? You mean like Rambo, with two threatening rows of machine gun bullets crisscrossed across his chest like a Playtex bra? Yes, some folks in the heavy metal scene attempted this look, but most preferred the understated—and much more comfortable—simple waist belt variety.

In the urban jungles of the punk rock movement, bullet belts were a necessary accessory to be worn with combat boots and studded dog collars. A mix of blank bullet shells attached to a leather belt, the bullet belt meant business.

The bullet belt never really hit the mainstream (other than Rambo’s, natch), but it did get a visibility boost in the 1982 film Valley Girl. Punk rocker Randy, played by Nicolas Cage, comes from ‘Hollyweird’ and frightens the valley girls with his strange dress and hair. Perhaps it was his bullet belt strapped around his waist that gave them the wrong idea, scared them off. It certainly didn’t look like their alligator polo shirts.