The gender politics of buttons.

Why left handed buttons for women? In Victorian times, right handed maids did most of the buttoning for fashionable women. Left-handed buttons indicated wealth (you had enough to pay a maid to do the tedious work). As with everything, there’s an answer on the Internet. By the time sewing machines and patterns became popular in the 1850’s, right over left buttoning for women’s wear became standard, likely for economic reasons more than male-domineering political ones. We’re not even going to start thinking about how zippers and Velcro could have influenced women’s rights. We clean ‘em all, and no matter what direction, if your button is missing, we’re going to replace it. Without charge.