Good morning!
I’ll just start this one off by saying writing these Roman numerals every week¹ gives me such great pleasure. There’s something about slowly incrementing through an incredibly inefficient numbering system that is just so satisfying. It inherently feels good. What doesn’t feel good though, is trying to put on clothes that have the damned buttons on the wrong side! It’s like fingernails on a blackboard while I’m getting dressed. Fashion Fact Friday, here we come!
There’s a Wrong Side for Buttons To Be On?
You bet! Well, the wrong/right side depends on one’s gender (or at least one’s preference for gender in clothing). If you’ve been an astute watcher of The Office, you’d recognize this scene that touches on the hot button issue of which side of the suit affixes into the other.
Specifically, on “men’s” clothing, the buttons are on the wearer’s right, and on “women’s” clothing, the buttons are on the left.
Do you hear that? It’s the sound of maybe dozens of minds being blown right now.
Because Reasons
My favorite explanation for this is that originally mens clothing was the only clothing to have buttons, because buttons were used in military uniforms and the like (and women just weren’t invited). The aforementioned affixers were put on the right because once fastened, it meant that the overhanging flap of cloth would “open” to the righthand side as well.
This is important if you’re a military guy and have a sword you need to draw in a hurry. With most people being righties, the sword would be buckled on the left hip. And if you’re pulling a sword out of a sheathe from your left hip, you really don’t want it to catch on your button flaps. Practical.
And Women?
I couldn’t find a good answer to this. The most convincing one I found was that when women did start including buttons into their repertoire it was a luxury for wealthier women. Wealthier women who didn’t do up their own buttons. This meant that it would be easier for right-handed servants to do up “backwards” buttons, because it’s like backwards when you’re not doing the buttons on yourself, etc, etc (just go with it).
Really?
I don’t know. Nobody knows for sure! This is just one of those silly little things that just got started a while ago and people just kept going with it. There are several brands now that make “unisex” clothing where the buttons are always on the right.
But really what’s important is that we all remember that sometimes things don’t make any sense. Sometimes people do things because “That’s the way it’s done” and you don’t realize how bizarre everything is until you’re googling around on a Thursday evening about the history of buttons².
Until next week, may all your clothes button the way you feel the most comfortable, and may I remember to write this post before Thursday evening³. Have a great weekend!
¹ For those of you reading this on the blog, when I email this post out every week to colleagues, friends, and family, the subject line includes the post number in a Roman numeral. This week looks like ‘Fun Fact Friday XXXVIII’.
² Spoiler: Buttons are super boring. Oh my god.
³ I speculate that this will not happen.
Fun Fact Friday 