There’s A Very Strange Reason Women’s Shirts Button In The Opposite Direction To Men’s

We'd never really thought about this until now.

Andro style is in and loads of us have been borrowing our boyfriend’s watches, jackets and shirts to rock a look that’s less girly and more masculine.

But there’s one thing we’ve noticed while donning our fella’s threads: er, why do his clothes button on the opposite side to ours?

Well according to Live Science, it’s not just a weird fashion fluke: there actually is a reason why women’s shirts fastened on the left and men’s on the right, and it goes right back to the 17th and 18th century.

The site explains that way back then women’s clothes were typically a lot more elaborate than men’s and they often wore dozens of garments, including corsets, gowns and petticoats.

Hence, women often needed a little assistance getting into these clothes and would enlist a servant to help them put on their various fashion items.

For this reason, the buttons were placed on a woman’s left to make it easier for the predominantly right-handed servants to dress them.

And these days the buttons still remain on the opposite side because nobody has seen any really reason to change them.

Interesting, huh? To mark this little learning we’re off to shops to celebrate.

6 shirts to shop now

River Island Shirt Dress

Shirt dress, €65, River Island

River Island Distressed Denim Shirt

Denim shirt, €18, River Island

New Look Crop Shirt

Crop shirt, €22.99, New Look

Missguided Longline Shirt

Longline shirt, €33.96, Missguided

Checked shirt, €19.99, H&M

Asos Boyfriend Shirt

Boyfriend shirt, €35.21, Asos