Button Up
No one can say for sure why a person could be fascinated with them but all I know is, that I am. Me and some very serious collectors. Aside from their purpose as a fastener, buttons are and have been considered by this interesting breed of collectors, a prized possession, strange though that may seem.
“Buttons appeared to have made their debut during the Bronze Age. While recognisably buttons, Bronze Age man didn’t fasten anything with them but simply wore them for decoration. Buttons were fashioned from bone, horn, wood, metal or even seashells. In the absence of a button-hole buttons appeared to be nothing more than sew-on brooches. At the time, man used belts, pins or brooches to fasten his clothes even in extreme weather there was no practical use for a button. The button merely existed. Waiting for its day in the sun!
The Greeks, although they had no word for it and like the Romans, used buttons for decoration. At some point, someone thought the button might make a good fastener. In a moment of brilliance, they ran the button through a little loop of thread and thereby created a use for the button alongside the pin or the brooch to keep garments together. As clothing became more fitted, the button and loop became more attractive since it was less likely to cause injury than a pin.
Around 1200 the button and button-hole arrived in Europe, delivered, like many other things, by the returning Crusaders. They in fact borrowed the idea from the Turks and Mongols encountered on their travels. At any rate, the button and button hole were to become a driving force in clothing design.
The first button holes were slits made in fabric just big enough to pass the button through and this was enough to hold clothes fast and inspire a fashion revolution. The word button appeared at around this time and may have come from the French masculine noun ’bouton’ meaning button. Whatever the basis for the word, the French were quick to recognise the potential of the button and by 1250 had established the Button Makers Guild.
The Guild produced beautiful buttons with great artistry to the delight of the aristocracy. The peasants however, weren’t allowed to join this buttonfest even if they could afford it. The aristocracy passed laws to limit buttons permitted for common usage to thread or cloth-covered buttons. As a result, the button became a status symbol. Buttons were being used not just for fastening clothes but once more, as an adornment.
By the middle of the 1300s buttons were big business. Tailors produced garments with row upon row of buttons with matching button holes. France, had by this time, become the button capital of Europe and the Guild made considerable profit producing buttons for coats, dresses and anything that looked as if it needed a button. Europe was so button crazy that even the Church got in on the act and denounced them as ‘the devil’s snare’ alluding to the ladies in their button-fronted dresses.
This fascination with buttons resulted in some outfits being adorned with thousands of buttons, all of them with accompanying buttonholes. Dressing and undressing became a chore but created a niche for the employment of professional dressers. Button mania continued unabated and in 1520 reports tell of a meeting where King Francis I of France, his clothing bedecked with some 13,600 buttons met King Henry VIII of England who was similarly weighed down with buttons.
The button fascination couldn’t last forever though particularly with the Puritans condemning it as sinful. In the 16th Century its popularity began to wane to more sensible levels. In response to this, the button-makers took to making more and more elaborate buttons. These artisans made their fancy buttons from precious materials like gold, ivory and even diamond.
Diamonds would seem more than a little excessive for buttons but in 1620 the First Duke of Buckingham reputedly had a suit and cloak covered in diamond buttons although most were purely decorative. Not everyone could afford such a lavish display so button-makers also used silver, ceramics and silk. Artists of the day filled their time hand-painting portraits or scenery on buttons. Louis XIV adored his buttons and returned to the excesses of previous ages but he also encouraged others by having his army wear silver-coloured bone buttons on their tunics.
If you are in any doubt as to the importance of buttons in the 17th Century you could do worse than consider La Guerre des Boutons. It was an actual war. French tailors started the war and won the first battle with the use of thread buttons. These were little balls of thread that worked wonderfully as buttons. The button makers were furious and in response they lobbied the government to assist their cause.
A law was passed and the war that was won with the tailors being fined for the production of the thread buttons. Not satisfied with this however, the button-makers went on to insist a rigorous enforcement of the new law. Around this time the United Kingdom, America and Germany were elbowing their way in on the French Button makers’ Guild’s lucrative market.
Towards the end of the 1700s big metallic buttons were in vogue and this resulted in uniforms and outfits needing fewer. There was also an introduction, apparently by Napoleon of sleeve buttons on tunics. This however, didn’t halt the development of the double-breasted jacket. These jackets were much like the chef’s jacket of today. When the outside of the jacket was soiled the wearer just had to unbutton it and place the soiled surface on the inside then button the clean side outermost. Very practical indeed!
From the 19th Century onwards buttons were mass-produced but this didn’t detract from the wide variety available; Dorset buttons made from thread competed side-by-side with bone and metal buttons. The fashion-conscious still prized buttons and brass or ceramic buttons were sold boxed and in sets to be sewn onto uniforms or other clothing. Every home kept a button box that held reclaimed buttons from discarded garments along with odd buttons suitable for completing repairs.
No entry about the button would be complete without an honorable mention for the white pearl button. A shipment from Japan flooded the button market with this type of button in the 1860s, and this directly resulted in the rise of the Pearly Kings and Queens of London. The most popular button of the 19th Century, however, was the black glass button that was mainly pearl-shaped. This was made for the masses in response to Queen Victoria’s usage of black jet buttons, mourning buttons following the death of Prince Albert.
By the turn of the 20th Century picture and novelty buttons were very much the fashion. They no longer needed to be hand-painted when they could have scenes printed onto them so hunting or other delights were popular for waistcoats. Molding produced buttons in all shapes and sizes from the fox’s head to the Wellington boot or indeed a strawberry. It was perhaps this that began the trend of collecting buttons for their own sake.
With the introduction of plastics, buttons weren’t quite so precious. However, since the arrival of the sewing machine and patterns for the thrifty dressmaker they provided the finishing touches while dressing on a budget. Many homes still have button boxes but with today’s busy lifestyle few people take the time to sew buttons on anything even though most garments come with a spare.
Today buttons, like clothing, come in all shapes and sizes. There are the basic circular, square or triangular buttons. The buttons with two, three or four holes for application, the toggle button, leather shaft type or stud buttons. The future of the button seems secure despite the popularity of velcro, poppers and zips. This could be due to the fact that whatever you’re fastening it just looks better with the dash of a button. Or it could just be that the button and buttonhole are perfect for their job.
When I lived in Sydney one of my favourite Sunday afternoon haunts was “All Buttons Great and Small” it’s a magical shop and safe as houses for the waist compared with lolly shops with as many shelves and coloured morsels on. Collette Guanta has a great blog with pics to make your mouth water. No matter what, the button has continued to thrive alongside the various alternatives and regardless of what sci-fi fashion would have us wearing, the button seems certain to survive.
