2OI4
Buttoning to the left or buttoning to the right? Button collecting Queens and Kings Chocolate Fisty Cuffs Brace yourself hold um up Clipped Suspenders
Coco said no Held in and up
Buttoning to the left and buttoning to the right ?????
The theory most often uttered is that men used to dress themselves, while women had the help of a maid. Since most people are right-handed, the buttoning was inverted for the sake of the maid. Another theory says that women were forced to button themselves using the inferior hand, in order to show them that they themselves were inferior, (to men, of course)
A new theory: Since female clothing took on more and more features of male clothing in order to express emancipation (a process that, I’d like to point out, contemporaries were not aware of) it became necessary to establish a feature that signalled that an item of clothing was, despite its male appearance, nevertheless female. Otherwise someone could be
led to believe that the lady wore a man’s coat, a man’s shirt etc, and use that as a moral handhold against her since wearing the clothing of the opposite sex was immoral. The closer female clothing got to male clothing, the more important the “little difference” of buttoning became. At the end of the 20th century, the buttoning was the only thing that differentiated a female blouse from a male shirt.
Whether you button your shirt to the right or the left households have long followed the practice of snipping the buttons from clothing that is destined for the charity shop. You may even remember playing with your grandmother’s buttons from her collection jar or tin. In the olden days, buttons were saved from tattered clothing to replace the buttons that are sometimes lost from others. Still today the impulse to collect is a basic part of the human spyche and buttons
have been admired and collected for centuries. Button collection was recognised as an organied hobby through the founding of the National Button Society in 1938. Cleveland College of Art and Design students, Rachael Kelley, Abigail Crapper, Claire Kruger and Rebecca Dring, were highly commended in the main Business Award category. Their company Little Lost Buttons creates bespoke jewellery with old
and recycled buttons. The aim is for customers to use the jewellery to accessorize their look, adding a touch of vintage and nostalgia. Rachael said: ‘The whole Blueprint experience has been a huge learning curve for us, which we thoroughly enjoyed from beginning to end. We have gained invaluable knowledge and contacts in the business world which will really help us in furthering and expanding our business.’
Pearly Queen of Jubily gardens by Ann Carrington. Medium gold buttons on velvet. 130 by 150 cm or 51 by 59 inches
Queens
&
Kings
As Henry swept the market streets, he started to collect all the pearl buttons he found that had fallen off of the clothes of people original Pearly Fam- and totally covered visiting the market, ilies, that the Kings in buttons, and the and when latter h e h ad Designs on suits tend to run in families h a v i n g e n o u g h but here are a few that you may see and far fewer he start- recognise: Horseshoe = Luck , Doves = buttons. ed to sew Peace, Heart = Charity, Anchor = Hope, them on Cross = Faith, Wheel = Circle of Life, his cap Symbols of Playing Cards = Life is a and then gamble, Flower Pots = Costermongers, c o n t i n - Donkey Carts = Costermongers. ued until his entire suit was filled, do all the designs he had created the and sewing. Each very first smother outfit can hold many suit. Because Henry tens of thousands was an orphan he of buttons on it and had no one to help can weigh as much him with his suit as 30 kilograms or so he had to learn more. There are how to sew. It was two types of suit this that started a Smother Suit and the tradition, which a Skeleton Suit, the is still carried on former having very by descendants of little cloth showing
Dairy Milk Giant Chocolate Buttons are bags of fun shaped chocolate, ready to be eaten in any way you like. These giant buttons are made with quality fair t r a d e
cre a hav m top ping e cho s b e c en . Cad ola t b t e but produ urys th h e is 196 tons cing 0’ sin ce c o c o a and fresh is s wh and y milk. This gives y e afte a r them an extremely pe r s rfec t smooth and creamy th eir ing texture that melts re cipe in your mouth. The s, buttons can be used for a wide variety of applications including on a range of treats and ice
they
taste grea so t.
Fisty Cuffs
For centuries, cuff links have truly distinguished gentlemen. Anybody can button up a shirt and two cuffs, but it’s not just anybody who takes the time to go the extra mile. Sure, some see them as stuffy, unnecessary and bourgeois; they are those who never amount to much. Cuff links provide men the chance to refine their style. Given that they are really adornments, they are almost completely cosmetic, providing much more form than function. That doesn’t discount their place in men’s fashion; it actually carves it out. Aside from the watch, which is still a utilitarian piece, cuff links are the one wardrobe Cuff Links Fact component that Seven out of 10 people who indicates attention match their suits with the right to detail. You can’t cuff links are given priority deny the impact when it comes to business deals. they have on both You see, it is all about attention a button-up shirt to detail. Cuff links are that final and a classic suit. touch of class that proves you For those rea- take your style -- and yourself sons and more, -- seriously. cuff links are the Buttons on a sleeve won’t do. true sign of style and civility. The devil is in the details, and that’s why your cuff links are essential. We want you to get this right. Worn properly, they allude to an impeccable persona that’s buttoned-up and polished; worn improperly, they make you look immature and, well, almost ignorant. A watch is standard fare and rings are tricky to master; it’s cuff links that make a direct impact. They demonstrate to onlookersthat you have a penchant for high end style. Rather you prefer titanium or onyx, you can ratchet up your style with the jewels at your wrist, especially if they’re paired with the right dress shirt. It all comes down to smaller elements of fashion and how you employ them to work in your
favor.
Brace
yo
In 1820, five years
before Nelsons Column was built (to celebrate his life and death on the 21st October 1805 at the battle of Trafalgar) braces and suspenders were first made and sold by Albert Thurston from his emporium at 27 Panton Street, Haymarket, London. Thirty one years later, in 1851, the nation celebrated the Victorian era, when the Great Exhibition was held in Hyde Park. Albert Thurston
ourselves
received an Honourable Mention for the excellent standard of their products. By now, Albert Thurston had become a by-word for quality in gentlemens’ accessories, and their braces and suspenders were destined to be sported by kings, princes, presidents and successful businessmen across the world over the next 2 centuries. Into the twentieth century,
1929
Braces. Not suspenders. These words are often interchanged and, to many, they can mean the same thing. To some more traditional retailers, however, suspenders clip-on to pants with metal clasps, while braces are equipped with button fasteners.
2014
They are highly versatile and go with almost every type of outfit. They are perfect for a casual everyday outfit, but also for a business one. They look just as great on a bartender as they look on a Wall Street guy. Formal suits well with suspenders and look really fun and elegant at the same time.
Suspenders were made possible by the invention of elastic, and first appeared on S-bend corsets of the Edwardian era. This corset is part of the Symington Collection in Leicester. It is dated 1905. The first suspender belts of the 1920’s were still made from the strong cotton broche of their corset forebears and were designed to be equally tough a functional. Until the development of the true suspender belt in the late 1950’s the girdle had served the same function of the corset. to keep waist and bum in check and hold up stockings. In the 1950’s clothes were literally revolutionised by the invention of affordable man made fabrics. Underwear benefitted in particular through more lightweight fabrics such as nylon lace, polyester and jerseys and from the 1960’s onwards undies for the mass markets were now to be seen and not felt. The suspender belt, like corsets, were rendered unneccesary by the evolution of fashion. With more women wearing mini skirts and trousers and the introduction of tights the fashionable lady no longer needed suspenders to hold up her hosiery.
Coco said no
In Edwardian and
of breath and die in childbirth as the
Victorian times,
corset would alter their natural body
Ladies were
shape. I is said that women were at fault
strapped in tight
in competing with each-other on having
in Corsets which
the slimmest waists by doing their
accentuated a
corset’s up as tight as possible. Getting
woman’s curves.
into a corset is not easy, you needed
These were done
the assistance of more than one
often so tight
chamber maid to do the pulling, thus the
that women were
corset was also a sign of wealth since
unable to breath
you needed to afford staff to put them
and fainted out
on.
Coco Chanel was the first to liberate, vocally and with her fashion designs, women out of restrictive and uncomfortable clothing that you cannot get into or out of by yourself. And thus liberating women from reliance on others and more freedom of movement.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, men also wore corsets as the demand for men to have a smooth silhouette and embody the idea of physical strength, showing broad shoulders, narrow waist and toned chest. By the mid-1800s, however, the few men who wore fashion corsets were more commonly subjects of ridicule. There is a corset pattern at the London Museum, it was reportedly given by Queen Mary to the Museum and it belonged to George IV.