Men’s and women’s shirts are having obvious differences in terms of the cutting and colour combination, but have you noticed that the buttons and buttonholes are in opposite directions?

The buttons of men’s shirts are on the right, while buttonholes are on the left, and it is the other way around for women’s shirts.

There are various sayings about the origin of this design, in which not only living habits to be the reason, but also related to the weapons of the last century?

1. The habits of women riding horses

It is said that at that time, women were used to riding sidesaddle, to the right; The button design could then prevent the wind entering the spaces between buttons while the horsing is running.

2. To facilitate servant of the wearer

Another theory is that in the early days of affixing buttons in women’s clothing, those who can afford are usually the upper- class. Therefore they are served by their servants while changing; as most people are right- handed, putting the buttons on the left of the wearer would make it easier for the servants to button up.

3. The position of the sword

For men who were still equipped with swords in the last century, they would normally place the sword on the left. So if the buttonholes are on the left, the fabrics between buttons would not halt the action of drawing the sword.

In the modern world, people no longer need swords and servants to take care of them. This habit from history can be regarded as a fun fact to distinguish men’s and women’s shirts!