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The Armadillo belt marries overlapping sterling disks to a length of suede so that the silver segments shingle over one another like the plates of the animal that gives the model its name. It is a piece that shows Aguilar designing for the body in motion, where the disks flex against the leather rather than sitting as a rigid band.
Dating to about 1945, the belt comes from Aguilar's independent Taxco shop and carries his marks, the HA stamp together with MADE IN MEXICO and STERLING. The pairing of silver with leather is characteristic of the way his workshop combined fine metal with everyday materials to make wearable objects.
The overlapping disks gather at either end of the suede strap and close over a lap-over clasp, an arrangement that keeps the engineering of the belt as much a part of the design as its ornament. The construction reads as deliberate, with the silver doing structural as well as decorative work.
Combining sterling and leather in a named model, the Armadillo belt is a sculptural object from Aguilar's shop.
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