If not for Robert Frank's book, I would not know that men's and women's clothes button from different sides. Yes, they do! You can try comparing your buttoned clothes with that of your husband or wife. Men's clothes button from the right while women's clothes button from the left.
One can begin to think of a reason for this and make the conclusion that it is in the convenience of dressing up that button designs are based. If this is so, we will have to conclude that most men are right- handed and most women are left-handed. It seems that this is not the case. Most people are right-handed (almost 90%) yet they are not only men. A great number of women are also right-handed. Our conclusion that one's convenience (whether a rightee or a leftee) in dressing up seemed to be wrong in this analysis.
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Yes, the reason is still convenience but not in the present context of history. We are talking of convenience in dressing up way back in time. When buttons first appeared in the seventeenth century, the wealthy people are the ones using them in their garments. During that time, it was the custom that men dress themselves while women have servants to dress them up. Having women's shirt button from the left made it easier for mostly right-handed servants to do the task. It was also convenient for men (mostly right-handed too) who button from the right to dress up by themselves. Aside from that, because a sword is drawn from the left hip with the man's right hand, the design helps to make it less likely to become caught in the shirt.
A norm, once established, resists change.
One can begin to think of a reason for this and make the conclusion that it is in the convenience of dressing up that button designs are based. If this is so, we will have to conclude that most men are right- handed and most women are left-handed. It seems that this is not the case. Most people are right-handed (almost 90%) yet they are not only men. A great number of women are also right-handed. Our conclusion that one's convenience (whether a rightee or a leftee) in dressing up seemed to be wrong in this analysis.
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Yes, the reason is still convenience but not in the present context of history. We are talking of convenience in dressing up way back in time. When buttons first appeared in the seventeenth century, the wealthy people are the ones using them in their garments. During that time, it was the custom that men dress themselves while women have servants to dress them up. Having women's shirt button from the left made it easier for mostly right-handed servants to do the task. It was also convenient for men (mostly right-handed too) who button from the right to dress up by themselves. Aside from that, because a sword is drawn from the left hip with the man's right hand, the design helps to make it less likely to become caught in the shirt.
A norm, once established, resists change.
3 comments:
Looks like you've done some research... never thought that women's clothes button differently from men's. Nice piece of info. Great post by the way!
Lingaw lagi ni nga trivia. :) I can use this at school. Thanks for sharing. :)
thanks to robert frank and his cool book! some more trivia as promised.
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