NickM said:
I dunno... the opening scene of
Dangerous Liaisons suggests that rich men had dressers too. And before anybody jumps on me, yes I
know it's only a film... but I bet the people who made it knew more about 18th century French dressing practice than any of us.
Yes, and men have had valets for centuries too, so maybe not...
Right, a quick google bring up this
boring fascinating document:
http://www.goines.net/Writing/button_button.html
Buried in here is the notion that it's to do with the fact that men's clothes always buttoned up the front, whereas, in the early days of button adoption, women's clothes often buttoned up the back. If both buttoned the same way relative to an observer from the front, so to speak, then when women started to wear buttons up the front (IE, imagine the garment twisted round 180degrees) the buttoning would go the other way...
Not heard of it before, or thought of it, but it might be the case.