Men’s shirts have buttons on the right and women’s shirts have buttons on the left. I have often worn men’s shirts but it always feels weird to have buttons on the other side.
One theory is that men’s and women’s shirts button from different sides because most people are right handed and many centuries ago, buttons were for richer people. Thus most women who wore buttons were dressed by right-handed maidservants, while men dressed themselves.
Regarding men (whose shirts flap left to right), armour used to overlap from left to right to keep your shield side (left) doubly protected. Because most people were right handed, the shield was on the left arm and the weapon was in the right hand – also a reason that many countries drive on the left. This was because you held your weapon in your right hand and so your weapon arm was always closest to those approaching by horseback in the opposite direction.
I wonder what happened in those days if someone was left-handed. Were they ostracised? And do jeans have the same convention?
Haha! Made me laugh but was also thought provoking! Probably, but did not rich men have people to help them dress, too?
I think in the upper class it was common to have a valet, who dressed you. But for women it was not only the upper class but also quite far down the rungs because women wore corsets and someone else had to tie them for you.
Somehow I have the feeling that fighting with a sword doesn’t require as much dexterity as writing with a feather (or fountain pen!), so maybe it didn’t really matter. I have a friend who is left handed and I’m going to ask her what her sword arm is! 😉
Ha ha that made me laugh!
“what happened in those days if someone was left-handed. Were they ostracised?”
Yes. Yes they were, even up until the 1960’s if not later. My father was naturally left handed, but was beaten by his teachers in a rural Missouri school for using his left hand (and scolded for having a stutter, which he developed from stress, not surprising) and forced to change to his right hand. This was the same school/area that punished native American families for speaking their ancestral language. The Rural American south/midwest was “Victorian” for much longer than the rest of the world.
Not sure if the differing button plackets is really due to servants, as if a woman had a maidservant/lady’s maid, the men in the household would most likely have had the male equivalent (manservant). I’m sure there’s a much older reason, we’ve had button plackets for a VERY long time.
Very good point about the valet for the men. And I agree about being ostracised if you were left-handed. I am left-handed and had a very bad time in school. I was forced to not use my left hand. As a result I am unable to use either hand very well. I only know how to knit and sew the right-handed way so I am not very good. I am awful with scissors.