Fashion rules are changing a lot these days – what used to be just for men or women is now mixed up. But there’s still one little thing that makes men’s and women’s clothes different, and some historians think it’s an old tradition linked to gender inequality.
Next time you button your shirt, check out where the buttons are on the placket – that’s the strong strip of fabric where the button goes into the buttonhole. If you can, grab a shirt from someone of the opposite gender and see if you can spot the difference.
Women’s buttons are usually on the left side, while men’s are on the right.
We don’t really know where this strange opposite-button idea came from, but experts have some guesses.
One popular explanation goes back to when rich women didn’t dress themselves. Wealthy ladies often had maids to help them get ready, and since most people are right-handed, buttons were put on the left to make it easier for the maid to button them up.
“When buttons were first made in the 13th century, they were super expensive, like most new inventions,” said Melanie M. Moore, who started a women’s clothing brand, to Today. “Rich women back then didn’t dress themselves – their lady’s maid did. Since most people are right-handed, this made it easier for someone standing in front of you to button your dress.”
On the other hand, men – who usually dressed themselves – had buttons on the right, which worked better for a right-handed person.
Some experts believe that men’s clothes were made for fighting.
In the past, a lot of men had weapons like swords or guns and needed to get to them quickly. Since having quick access to a weapon was super important, having buttons on the right side made it easier to take off jackets or coats while keeping their main hand free for action, said Chloe Chapin, a fashion historian, in an interview with Today.
“I think it’s really important to think about which time period we’re discussing,” Chapin, who is a Harvard doctoral student in American studies, explained. “But generally, a lot of parts of men’s fashion can be linked back to the military.”
On the other hand, women’s fashion didn’t really consider how to be functional in battle – that’s why the buttons stayed on the left side.
In the 1880s, women’s fashion began to include more masculine styles, and Chapin suggested another theory.
“It became trendy for women’s clothes to appear more traditionally masculine. But in many places, it was against the law for women to dress like men in public, so maybe the different way of buttoning showed that you were wearing a dress meant for women,” the historian explained.
In 1894, British sexologist Havelock Ellis mentioned in his book “Man and Woman: A Study of Secondary and Tertiary Sexual Characters” that the way women’s clothes buttoned from right to left indicated that women were viewed as physically weaker than men. He claimed that women had less developed motor skills and didn’t have the same “speed and accuracy of movement” as men, who, unlike women, could get dressed without help.
Even though this small fashion detail has been around for ages, people are just now starting to notice what The Atlantic calls the “button differential.”
It’s described as “a leftover from an old tradition that we have thoughtlessly carried into modern times,” according to the article.
And the online community is shocked.
One user on Reddit said, “I was today years old when I found out that women’s shirts have buttons on the left side!” Another added, “I just discovered that shirt buttons are on the left for women and on the right for men. What the heck!!!!”
Others shared their thoughts on this long-standing tradition – rooted in gender inequalities – that still affects fashion today.
“Oh yes, the big gender gap – because apparently, a long time ago, women needed help getting dressed while men were supposed to do it themselves. Fast forward to now, and we’re still stuck with old traditions,” tweeted one user.
Another Redditor commented, “Zippers too, usually!”
Some brands are starting to question the gendered button placement, but most clothing companies still stick to the rule of left for women and right for men.
Did you know that buttons are placed differently for men and women? We’d love to hear your thoughts on this surprising discovery, and please share this story with your friends so we can get their opinions too!
