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Why are the zippers on different sides of men’s and women’s jackets? — Agrima, 13 years old, Delhi, India
Imagine that you are in a clothing store that sells items for the whole family. You grab a white button-down shirt to try it on. The style is quite simple. Was it designed to be worn by a woman or a man?
Maybe there’s a clue: Many women’s shirts have buttons on the left side, while men’s shirts typically button on the right side. Even the zippers on pants and jackets sometimes follow the same pattern.
But why do clothes fasten differently depending on whether they are for men or women? Fashion researchers and historians like us have wondered about this gender difference. The answer has a lot to do with tradition, history and the way clothes were made long ago. Only small details, like a zipper, can tell a story about the past.
The clothes are full of hidden history.
When people look at clothing today, they often think about colors, comfort, or style. But clothing is also part of what historians call material culture: all the objects that people use every day. Examining the material culture of the past can reveal how people lived, worked, and thought in earlier times.
Closures such as buttons and zippers are not only practical. They also follow design traditions that have been connected to the genre for hundreds of years.
One of the most common explanations for why men’s and women’s clothing have buttons on opposite sides comes from European fashion history. Long ago, rich noblewomen used to wear complicated dresses with buttons and zippers, so complicated that they needed help dressing.
Some historians believe that buttons were placed so that it was easier for the servant to fasten clothing, reflecting class distinctions.
About 90% of people are right-handed. When a maiden stood directly in front of a noblewoman to dress her, the buttons on the wearer’s left side were perfectly aligned so that the maiden would use her dominant right hand to fit them into the buttonholes. If you try to button a friend’s jacket or stuffed animal while standing in front of them, you’ll see exactly why this design made the maid’s job so much easier.
Men, on the other hand, used to dress themselves. Therefore, shirts, pants, and uniforms were designed with closures that were easy for the user to operate, that is, buttons on the right side so that the user could use his or her own right hand to fasten them.
Men’s clothing was determined by everyday practicality and functionality.
For example, some historians point to military traditions as a possible influence on button placement. Men often carried swords on their left side and drew them with their right hand. Keeping jackets, shirts and pants closed may have helped prevent fabric from getting caught and in the way.
Fashion habits are difficult to change
Once clothing began to be manufactured in factories in the early 19th century, brands needed consistent designs. Factories work best when patterns are standardized, so button traditions stuck around even when people forgot how they started.
As zippers gained popularity in the early 20th century, clothing companies simply kept the same customs about how men’s and women’s garments were supposed to close. Instead of creating entirely new rules, many manufacturers simply kept the same patterns they had used for buttons. Because of this, zippers often ended up following the same “direction” as closures on older garments.
Nowadays, more and more brands are making unisex and gender-neutral clothing for everyone, and many designers no longer follow the old left/right rule. It’s just a fashion tradition: there’s no reason zippers and buttons should go on different sides for men and women.
It’s now more acceptable to break the old rules about which side buttons or zippers should be put on. If you make your own clothes, you can put closures, whether buttons, zippers, snaps, ties, Velcro or even something new you invent yourself, wherever you want!
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JuYoung Lee is an associate professor of fashion design and merchandising at Mississippi State University.
Caroline Kobia is an associate professor of fashion design and merchandising at Mississippi State University.
This article is republished from The conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.