As fashion merged into one unanimous look in the 70s (denim flares and decal tees), your badge of pride was a huge metal belt buckle, displayed front and centre.
A throwback to the golden age of bong-hit stadium rock, when high school kids donned these weighty buckles to identify themselves in the crowd and find solidarity with others of their kind . . .
Did you listen to KISS or Styx? Drink Miller or Pabst? Were you a Yankee or a Dixie?
Other belt buckles also became very popular; Marijuana leaves, confederate flags, beer companies, “Keep on truckin'” etc.
Borrowed from truckers (and a relic from an era when people actually tucked their shirt in), the combination of larger than life brown leather belts and metal buckles was a perfect balance to the wide legs of denim flares.