Is it a belt? Is it a corset? No, it’s a cummerbund

The most unexpected trend of the season is the cummerbund, with wrapped waists appearing at Celine, Valentino and Ralph Lauren alongside a host of indie brands such as Kallmeyer, Conner Ives and Mithridate.

Here, the cummerbund sheds its stuffy, swashbuckling associations with rented formal tuxedos and ’80s pastel suits for a modern, genderless look.

The fashion item can be seen snatching in the waist of a slouchy sweater, adding structure to a slinky slip dress or adding heft to billowing pants. There are pleated cummerbunds, intricately beaded cummerbunds and jacquard cummerbunds – take your pick.

As with most trends, this isn’t the cummerbund’s first go-around in fashion.

They made frequent appearances in the work of Yves Saint Laurent – accessorising a Le Smoking suit or adding definition to a brocade, drop-waist dress in the 1977 “Les Chinoises” collection.

Jean Paul Gaultier, Helmut Lang and Anthony Vaccarello, among many others, all interpreted the accessory in their own ways.

The name itself is an anglicisation of kamarband, an Urdu word (derived from Persian) meaning waistband. Typically woven from cotton, silk or wool, its distinctive pleats served more than just an aesthetic purpose, but could handily hold tobacco pouches, currency or ceremonial daggers.

London-based researcher, archivist and founder of South Asia Archive Sanam Sindhi, says locating the style in one specific time and place is difficult.

“It’s an accoutrement that has long been in existence and exchange across many cultures in South, South West and Central Asia, each region with their own way of fashioning it,” she says.

In colonial India, the cummerbund became a staple in British military officer uniforms, earning the name “cholera belt” as the thick fabric provided warmth and protection against the region’s harsh climate.

“Though the British were eager to maintain strict sartorial boundaries between themselves and Indians during their occupation, the kamarband was one of the few items they did adopt into their own wardrobes due to its incredible practicality,” Sindhi explains.

“Taking it back with them to Britain in the 1800s, it eventually became the ‘cummerbund’, misappropriated as a signature of black-tie dressing.”

Jade Fox, a Sydney-based stylist and writer behind Substack Consider This , was inspired after seeing the style pop up at fashion month.

“The menswear Celine show was stunning. It was about blurring the lines between evening wear and casual wear,” she says.