Shoppers are just realising why women's shirt buttons are always on the left hand side. It's something you've probably never even thought about before, but if you look at a women's shirt, chances are, the buttons will be on the left.
After hearing the theories, some people say they're 'mind-blown'. On Twitter, one person said: “I *just* found out that shirt buttons are on the left for women and right for me. Wtf!!!!”
Another tweeted: "I was today years old when I learned that women’s shirts have buttons on the left side!”
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There are a variety of theories as to why this may be but they all date back a few decades. One is that men's shirts had buttons on the right side because most men held their swords in their right hand.
This meant they needed to be able to unbutton their shirt quickly to duel and unbuttoning using their left hand was faster. As to why women's buttons are on the left, many believe it's because women tend to carry their babies in their left arms.
It's possible that women's shirts were designed to be opened or closed with the free right hand to make breastfeeding easier, so they were buttoned on the left and open on the right. It also may be because way back when women were expected to ride horses sidesaddle.
One of the theories is that hundreds of years ago wealthy women didn’t dress themselves but had servants or “lady's maid” to do it for them. Knowing that someone else would be doing the unbuttoning, dressmakers would sew buttons onto the left hand side of ladies clothes.
Buttoning up on the left may have kept the breeze from blowing up their shirts as they galloped across fields. Another possible explanation for the variation in button placement could be traced back to the rise of emancipation when women began to abandon their girdles in favour of pants and other traditionally male clothes.
As a practical technique of distinguishing between men's and women's clothing, manufacturers placed buttons on the left side of women's clothing. Melanie M. Moore, founder of women's blouse brand Elizabeth & Clarke, has a different theory.
"When buttons were invented in the 13th century they were, like most new technology, very expensive," she told Today. Wealthy women back then did not dress themselves — their lady's maid did. Since most people were right-handed, this made it easier for someone standing across from you to button your dress."
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