Buttons

Buttons are ancient things.  Nobody knows where buttons originated or who created the button, but we do know that they are older than written history.  The word “button” comes from the French word “bouton”. 

Buttons were first used only as decorations, ornaments and symbolic pieces.  Often we find buttons from this era with paintings, mosaics, engravings and other designs and artistic features.  They have been found in the Indus Valley civilization, Ancient China and Ancient Rome from as far back as 2800-2600 BCE.  Early buttons were made from bone, horn, wood and sometimes seashell.                

Buttons only started to be used as clothing fasteners during the 13^th and 14^th centuries AD.  Germany was the first to use them on clothes.  That was when people started wearing tighter fitting clothes instead of loose robes and other garments.  Buttons became so popular during this period that you would often see clothes, especially of a wealthy person, covered with buttons from head to toe.  Clothes became very hard to make because of the excess of button holes on each garment.  Before, garments were kept in place with strings and pins.  

Buttons went through many phases, like all things do.  For example, during the 1700s, embroidered buttons were very popular.  During the 1800s, a kind of button called the “black glass button” was a hit.

Buttons are less used now a day because of the invention of zippers and other fasteners but they are still used and I find them very interesting.