Why are women's and men's button positions opposite?

As with many other things in history, we cannot understand exactly 100% of men's and women's clothing buttons are arranged in opposite directions. Women's shirts often have buttons on the left, while men's shirts often have buttons on the right. There are a number of theories around this shirt.

So far, the theory is considered the most reasonable when arranging opposite buttons on men's and women's clothes is due to the old days, women's dresses, especially the upper-class women often have very many floors, so they desperately need a maid to help them with their dresses. Therefore, a buttoned-up women's dress on the left is convenient for the maid to help them, especially right-handed people. Meanwhile, men's clothing has buttons on the right side, because most men usually wear clothes.

The above explanation seems reasonable, but it is still unavoidable. For example, not all old women have maids. Another argument in favor of this view is that even though not all women belong to the upper class, but the upper-class women with buttons and buttons on the left and so, even without a maid or full I, the other women still want to wear the same popular dresses with buttons on the left.

Picture 1 of Why are women's and men's button positions opposite?
Women's shirts are always on the left.

However, the hypothesis seems to have overlooked a rather important fact - that the upper class men are always helped by others when wearing their clothes and their clothes have a lot of daisies - especially the European costumes before the 19th century when the women's dress at that time rarely had buttons.

Surely the clothes of the men in this era do not need as many liners as women do, however, it is assumed that gentlemen, especially those in the upper class, do not have servants to help them install buttons and vests are not accurate. And why are these upper gentlemen relying on maids who wear clothes - who have relatively few buttons - but not male servants, who have a lot of daisies?

Moreover, why did these upper and middle-class people begin to dress themselves in the middle of the nineteenth century without relying on servants, why not earlier? Until the 18th century there were countless women's clothes equipped with buttons on the right, and so were men's clothing. But by the first half of the 19th century, this began to change, and by the second half of the 19th century, the buttoned-up women's clothes on the left became almost in vogue.

Another popular theory is that women's clothes are designed with buttons on the left so that left-handed women can attach themselves to the button - it is also a sign of left-handed women. not considered to be the same level as men. Historically, left-handed people were often impressed as evil.

Picture 2 of Why are women's and men's button positions opposite?
The old lady of the past doesn't need to wear clothes herself.

In addition, it is said that when people can mass produce clothes with the help of sewing machines, one must decide that there should be a clear distinction between men's and women's costumes in the way of father buttons, to ensure women do not forget "their position".

However, this theory still contains many problems. For example, it does not take into account that many tailors were women at the time, as were many designers and craftsmen who were women at the time. Moreover, most women can sew and often make clothes for themselves, so they do not need to remind themselves of inferior positions than men.

There is another theory that is similar to the first hypothesis, which is that the chipped clothes on the opposite sides are a social sign that someone is so rich that they don't need to dress themselves. .

Suppose the fashion choices in this era are dominated by reason, so the position change of daisies does not happen, and women's clothes are increasingly complicated, requiring women to stand for a while for those The maid wore dresses for them and prepared the day's costumes for them. Gradually, they conceived that they not only had to have money to support the servants, but they also had to make sure that what they did was the best.

Picture 3 of Why are women's and men's button positions opposite?
Now, the right-button men's shirt and the left-button female shirt have become an unwritten rule.

Thorstein Veblen's book "Theory of the Leisure Class" ( 1899) argues that the purpose of 19th century women for gentlemen is simply to prove their family is rich. how is it So there is no better way than complicated and expensive dresses, then make sure they don't do anything because everything is done by the servants.

History in the years 1840-1850 shows that there is a 50/50 ratio for the dress of a woman's skirt on the right or left. By the 1860s, the clothes on the left button were very popular. This may be due to the popularity of sewing machines at the time. Clothing becomes cheaper and sellers choose to imitate the upper class. Therefore, it is common for men's and women's clothes to have buttons on the left and right sides.

In summary, the reason why the opposite position of women's and men's shirts comes from both the fashion and habitual aspects when several centuries ago, both women and men often wear many clothes. than we are today . Why does this tradition last until modern times, when most women often wear clothes themselves? The answer is the same as why most people are still typing on the QWERTY keyboard: It's a habit. There is no real reason why the buttons don't change positions, it is simply that no one is sad to change a tradition but only a few people notice or complain about it.