The Secret Hidden in Every Shirt
At first glance, a button-down shirt seems like the simplest garment in the world—cotton, buttons, collar. Nothing mysterious there, right? But look a little closer, and you’ll find a small, centuries-old clue sewn into every shirt that quietly reveals whether it was designed for a man or a woman. It’s not the fabric, the cut, or the fit. It’s the way the shirt closes.
Check the placket—the strip of fabric where buttons meet buttonholes. On men’s shirts, the buttons are on the right. On women’s shirts, they’re on the left. A tiny detail, easy to miss, but once you know it’s there, you’ll never be able to unsee it.
So why the difference? The answer is tangled up in history, habit, and hierarchy.
Dressing With Help
When buttons were first introduced in Europe during the 13th century, they were a luxury reserved for the wealthy. Affluent women rarely dressed themselves; maids did it for them. Since most people are right-handed, it was easier for a maid facing her mistress to fasten buttons placed on the left side of the garment. Men, however, usually dressed themselves, so right-side closures matched their dominant hand.
Built for Battle
Men’s clothing also had to serve a practical purpose: combat. Whether drawing a sword or reaching for a pistol, soldiers needed freedom of movement. Right-side buttons allowed men to open a coat with the left hand while keeping the dominant right hand free for action. Women’s clothing, designed without war in mind, retained its left-side fastening.
A Quiet Gender Code
By the late 19th century, women’s fashion began borrowing masculine tailoring. But even as women embraced structured jackets and shirts, the reversed buttons acted as a subtle reminder: this was still women’s clothing, not menswear. Fashion historians note that in some societies, it was illegal for women to wear men’s garments—so that small difference in button placement carried symbolic weight.
A Symbol of Inequality
Others argue the “button rule” reflects old beliefs about women’s abilities. In 1894, British writer Havelock Ellis suggested that women were considered less dexterous than men, which supposedly justified why they needed help dressing. That assumption—that women couldn’t dress themselves with “speed and precision”—was stitched into clothing design, quite literally.
The Button Divide Today
More than 700 years later, the “button differential” still exists. Most brands stick to tradition, with men’s buttons on the right and women’s on the left. A few modern designers are challenging the convention, creating gender-neutral closures or flipping the script entirely. But in most wardrobes, the rule lives on—quietly echoing history with every button fastened.
A Hidden Signature of History
It may seem like a quirk, but that small difference in shirt design is a lasting reminder of how culture, class, and gender shaped even the tiniest details of what we wear. So the next time you button up, take a second to notice. That little placket isn’t just fabric—it’s fashion history stitched into your everyday life.