Why are women's shirt buttons on the left and men's on the right? | The Times of India (2024)

A long time ago, gender determined how clothes would be made. With unisex fashion and evolution now, men and women are free to experiment with their clothes. Be it pants for women or skirts for men, clothes these days no longer determine one's gender. However, when it comes to shirts, there is still a distinction on the basis of buttons. In case you've never noticed, buttons on women's shirts are on left and men have them on the right. Well, there's no practical reason for this differentiation, but there are many theories since the 1850s that suggest the same. If you're curious like us, then here's a list of possible reasons:

The one common reason cited for women's button's on left is because upper-class women didn't dress themselves. It made it easier for right-handed maids to close the fasten the buttons for wealthy women.

Many historians have given this theory that it was easier for men to reach their weaponry with the dominant hand. So, buttons on right made it easy to slip the hand into the shirt and jacket more easily.

It is said that many women mocked the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte hand-in-waistcoat pose, which was considered a mark of dignity. As per the theories by many reliable sources, he ordered women's shirts to have buttons on the opposite side of men, so they could no longer do it.

Back then, women traditionally rode the sidesaddle on the right. Having buttons on the left reduced the air breeze flowing into the women's top while riding.

One theory also suggests that buttons were considered expensive and masses wanted to copy wealthy women's clothing and went for this style of buttons.