Veda #26 : Men Are Right, Women Are Left

Day 26
Today's Fact : "Why are buttons sewn on the left side of women's clothing and on the right side of men's?"


Most of you probably don't know about this one, or even didn't care about this fact. Buttons have been used since ancient times to fasten or decorate clothing. But do you actually know that the button sewn on men's clothes are on the right side, but on women's clothes, its inverted?Amazingly, there were actually an explanation about this one.

In the 1200s, when fitted clothes took the place of loose robes tied by string or fastened by pins, buttons became popular. At that time, both men and women had buttons sewn on the left side of their garments, the same side as women do today. Then, during the Middle Ages, a change occurred. Men needed to unbutton their coats quickly to draw their swords, which hung on their left side. Since the sword was drawn with the right hand, it took a great deal of time for that same right hand to first undo the buttons. Therefore, men's buttons were changed to the right side so that a swordsman could use his left hand to unbutton his coat and immediately draw his sword with his right hand.

see those?can you spot the difference?

There's actually another theory, according to Metali Goswami of De La Salle - College of Saint Benilde, this particular fashion has its roots in the Victorian era, at a time when buttons were expensive and mostly worn by wealthy people. Women also had servants to dress them. Given that most people are right-handed, their buttons were placed on the servant's right, which is the wearer's left side. Men, on the other hand, dressed themselves so their buttons were placed on their right side. Those who could not afford servants copied the style of the wealthy, and women's buttons have remained on the left since.