Men’s fashion has been hooked on the belt ever since warriors tucked weapons into bronze girdles and Chinese emperors elevated elaborate garment hooks to status symbols. 

While today’s luxury item is the $550,000.00 Swiss-made white gold, platinum and diamond buckle, it is not as distinctive as the Fifth Century gilt bronze and jade diagous models coming to auction at Gianguan Auctions in New York on September 17th — just in time for Fashion Week lovers to snag one.

From the collection of a California gentleman, the ten ancient buckles were made during China’s Warring States period (411-420 AD), when the kingdoms of Wei and Jin battled with the Zhou and other states for control of the country.  At the time, only the royal elite could afford to wrap themselves in luxurious embroidered silk robes fastened with sashes secured by artisanal buckles of gold, silver, jade, turquoise and coral. 

The collection at Gianguan Auctions is the stuff of designers’ inspiration. The buckles are in the form of dragons, tigers, birds and exotic and mythical qilin. All are symbols intended to bring the wearer good luck, good fortune, longevity and prosperity, proving that man’s basics desires have not changed in thousands of years. As often as not, these belt buckles accompanied the well-dressed to the grave, along with a servant and horse, to help the noble establish his status in the underworld. 

To accommodate the bespoke crowd that will have no trouble adding the word diagous to a lexicon that embraces the unique, Gianguan Auctions opens its preview on Friday, September 7th at 10:00 a.m., the day before the official start of Fashion Week. The belt buckles will be on display through Friday, September 16th. 

Listed individually in the Gianguan Auctions catalog, the collection begins at Lot 140 and continues through Lot 155 and are conservatively valued at $2,000 to $3,000. Buyers need look no further than the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of ancient Chinese belt buckles for references to the earliest fashion statements. Gianguan Auctions substantiates age and provenance.

The Chinese belt buckles come to the podium on Saturday, September 17. Bidding is live in the gallery, by absentee ballot or online at invaluable.com

For more information, condition reports, or to place a bid, call the Gallery Director at Gianguan Auctions 212 867-7288.