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For sure, there are a lot of examples like that, including women’s buttons being backwards (for an assistant to button them, the theory goes) and a knight needi

For sure, there are a lot of examples like that, including women’s buttons being backwards (for an assistant to button them, the theory goes) and a knight needing a page to help put armor on. Most clothing today can be put on without any help, which might be a reflection of an individualist culture. https://nowiknow.com/why-womens-shirts-button-backward/ https://nowiknow.com/why-womens-shirts-button-backward/

hotnfresh 3y ago
Those slim little mid-century genre paperback novels (sci if, mostly) fit suspiciously perfectly in blazer/suit outer pockets, without even wrecking the drape. I’d say they were sized—including ideal length of the work—with that in mind. Older Modern Library kinda works, too. Certain variants (the smaller leather softcover run) are much better than others, and of course many of the books are simply too thick for that.
- keiferski 3y ago
  A funny related story: Sony co-founder Akio Morita desperately needed to sell the company’s first transistor radio - the first in Japan and the second in the world. So Morita pitched it as being shirt-pocket size. The only problem was that it was slightly larger than a shirt pocket, so Morita ordered several shirts with abnormally large pockets for his sales force. https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/mar/13/sony-puts-big-sound-in-shirt-pocket/ https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/mar/13/sony-puts-big-...
mywittyname 3y ago
I have clothing with buttons and zippers that are "backwards" (online tailors will do either way). There's not a huge difference one way or the other, so I don't really buy into the notion that it was done because servants buttoned your clothing. Proponents of this theory leave out the fact that wealthy men had valets up until very recently. Yet valets had no apparent issues buttoning their masters. If this were a class symbol, men would engage in it as well. If it had a reason, it was probably to distinguish "men's" clothing from "women's".
- throwaway7374 3y ago
  My theory is that upper class women had much more complicated clothing, with multiple layers. Some dresses had buttons on the back for example, A man's shirt and jacket was simpler. A man was expected to be more physically active and probably needed to take on/off his jacket several times a day without help.

hotnfresh 3y ago

Those slim little mid-century genre paperback novels (sci if, mostly) fit suspiciously perfectly in blazer/suit outer pockets, without even wrecking the drape. I’d say they were sized—including ideal length of the work—with that in mind. Older Modern Library kinda works, too. Certain variants (the smaller leather softcover run) are much better than others, and of course many of the books are simply too thick for that.

keiferski 3y ago
A funny related story: Sony co-founder Akio Morita desperately needed to sell the company’s first transistor radio - the first in Japan and the second in the world. So Morita pitched it as being shirt-pocket size. The only problem was that it was slightly larger than a shirt pocket, so Morita ordered several shirts with abnormally large pockets for his sales force. https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/mar/13/sony-puts-big-sound-in-shirt-pocket/ https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/mar/13/sony-puts-big-...

mywittyname 3y ago

I have clothing with buttons and zippers that are "backwards" (online tailors will do either way). There's not a huge difference one way or the other, so I don't really buy into the notion that it was done because servants buttoned your clothing. Proponents of this theory leave out the fact that wealthy men had valets up until very recently. Yet valets had no apparent issues buttoning their masters. If this were a class symbol, men would engage in it as well. If it had a reason, it was probably to distinguish "men's" clothing from "women's".

throwaway7374 3y ago
My theory is that upper class women had much more complicated clothing, with multiple layers. Some dresses had buttons on the back for example, A man's shirt and jacket was simpler. A man was expected to be more physically active and probably needed to take on/off his jacket several times a day without help.