Clothing buttoning is reversed according to gender for historical reasons. When clothing was worn by people who needed help dressing, the buttoning was reversed to make it easier for the assistants. This tradition still persists today.
The origin of different button placements based on gender dates back several centuries, at a time when buttons were reserved for the wealthy. For rich women, dressed with the help of servants, placing buttons on the left facilitated the work of the maids, as the majority of people are right-handed. Conversely, men generally dressed themselves, so their buttons were sewn on the right, making it easier for them to button up themselves. Additionally, gentlemen frequently drew their swords with their right hand: buttons placed on the right made it simply quicker to draw without getting caught in their clothing. These practices became deeply rooted, and the habit has been passed down to this day.
For a long time, women's clothing was complicated to put on, with many buttons, fastenings, and ribbons. Wealthy women often needed a maid to help them get dressed. Therefore, to make their work easier, seamstresses positioned the buttons so that they could be easily fastened while facing someone. In contrast, men often dressed themselves, which explains why their buttons are placed to be easily fastened by themselves. Men's outfits were designed for quick movements, sometimes military, requiring less assistance. This difference largely stems from the social roles defined over several centuries between men and women. Men were expected to be self-sufficient, while women were supposed to have assistance in their dressing preparations. Even today, these traditions persist, with no real practical justification.
With the massive arrival of ready-to-wear at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, clothing manufacturers generalized quick and standardized production techniques. As a result, clothes were produced on a large scale with clear distinctions for men or women to facilitate sales. Manufacturers imposed this logic of reversed buttoning as a simple code to identify in stores. These industrial practices firmly anchored these gender norms in clothing culture, simply because it suited producers and retailers to have distinct and easily understandable lines.
The rigid distinctions between men's and women's clothing have gradually loosened over the past few decades. As early as the 1960s and 70s, cultural and feminist movements transformed norms, with women massively adopting pants and traditionally masculine clothing. Today, with the rise of unisex fashion, many designers advocate for a more inclusive fashion, challenging traditions such as the placement of buttons. The gender-neutral approach is gaining popularity, questioning these small historical peculiarities inherited from the past.
The normative choice regarding buttoning may also vary according to cultures and traditions. For example, in some traditional Asian garments, the direction of buttoning can hold specific cultural or symbolic significance.
The first buttons were primarily decorative, made from noble materials like ivory or silver, and served to display social status more than to fasten clothing.
Some contemporary brands deliberately choose not to adhere to the traditional meaning of buttoning as a militant act of questioning gendered dress norms.
During the Victorian era, well-to-do women were often dressed by maids. The reversed placement of women's buttons made it easier for right-handed helpers, who were facing the garments, to do their work.
Historically, the meaning of buttoning sometimes indicated social rank or the roles assigned to genders. Today, this symbolic significance has significantly diminished but persists subtly as a cultural reference.
Unisex clothing tends to adopt male buttoning by industrial and economic convention: this is generally a pragmatic choice aimed at standardizing production and simplifying garment making to reach a broader audience.
Today, reverse buttoning doesn't really have any practical use; it is mostly a convention inherited from historical practices. The majority of people follow it out of habit or due to established style norms.
Yes, many contemporary creators deliberately question and subvert these conventions to promote a fashion that transcends gender and challenges traditional dress codes.
The distinction dates back at least to the 17th century in Europe, particularly among the nobility, where women's clothing often required the help of a servant to be buttoned, hence the inversion compared to men's buttoning.
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