You’ve probably asked yourself this question: why are women’s shirts often buttoned on the left while men’s are buttoned on the right? This clothing tradition goes back a long way…
Spring also means the return of shirts of all kinds to the streets: white, colourful, floral or patterned, relaxed, “casual”, or more dressy. But if you’re buying a shirt at this time of year, you might notice that the buttons are often on the opposite side depending on whether you’re male or female. This difference isn’t just a matter of style, it’s actually historical, reports Reader’s Digest, and actually dates back to a practice so ancient that it might seem totally anachronistic today.
In the 17th century, clothing habits were simple: the vast majority of the population covered themselves as best they could, while tailored clothing was the norm among the bourgeoisie. Wealthy families, who ruled the fashion world, had servants to help them dress. But the women were very frequently helped by servants. To facilitate the dressing of these ladies, women’s shirts would therefore have been designed with a row of buttons that could be manipulated from the front by another person. This is how the buttons ended up on the left.
The men were mostly right-handed and obviously preferred to button and unbutton their shirts themselves, which explains why the buttons were placed on the right this time, to be easily manipulated. The buttonholes, which were the height of chic at the time, were accordingly on the left side, as they look better when seen from the front, but also so as not to bother pimply hands.
Over time, clothes have obviously evolved and shirts have become popular in all types of homes. Yet the tradition of buttons on the left side for women and on the right side for men has continued in most high fashion and ready-to-wear brands. So much so that this difference is still used today to distinguish men’s and women’s shirts.
Now that you know the true origin of this difference, you can impress your friends with your knowledge of fashion and history.
