Shirt or Blouse

[Danielle La Belle]

Hi Girls:

A little light-hearted fun here.

Shirt - derived from middle English, by definition is worn about the upper body and is long enough to be tucked into the pants.

Blouse - derived from a French word, by definition is worn about the upper body, worn by workmen, artists and peasants. Also a 2nd entry in my Websters indicates that "it is usually a loose fitting garment, worn by women from the neck to the waist."


The U.S. Navy refers to an officers (male/female) [upper garment] as a "blouse" not a shirt. This typical nomenclature goes back many centuries in the Navy. While the U.S. Army refers to the same as a "Shirt" for male/female.

I was educated to believe that in most cases, a 5 button item was a blouse for women, 6 or 7 button with a tail was a shirt for woman, always buttoned over the heart side.

Men always would wear the 7 button shirt with long tail, buttoned over the opposite side from the heart.

Any real reason....beats me. Magazines today to save money have stopped the practice of making sure that a photo reflects the proper side. I notice this rather often any more. Especially with photos of woman in any magazine. Often they are reversed to position the model with respect to the page so that she is looking at you and not away from you the reader.

Hugs

Danielle Marie

[SilverLady(SO)]

Hi, Danielle -

I had always heard that in the days of old, upper-class women had maids who 'did up' their buttons, while most men did their own buttons (normally). The material on a woman's blouse, when being buttoned by another woman, were left over right (the wearer's right side over the left/heart side) . . . the same as if a man was buttoning his own shirt. The "lower class" women wore shirts that buttoned left/heart side over right, from their point of view.

The modern-day clothes designers have continued that style to differentiate between men's and women's shirts and blouses. A shirt buttons left (heart) side over right, and a blouse buttons right side over left . . . from the wearer's point of view.

I'm sure someone will research this and get into further detail, but that's the story, in a nutshell.

Most of my blouses have 5, 6, or 7 buttons (some with just 4 buttons), no tails, while most of my shirts have anywhere from 5 to 8 buttons, with tails . . . it all depends upon the length of the blouse/shirt as to the number of buttons. Just to be obstinate, several of my blouses do have tails, too.


*Hugs*

- SL

[Virginia]

Well for this girl, if it is silky, has ruffles or knitted or frog buttons or bell sleeves, or is color or print or style that some knuckle-dragger would not be caught dead in, its a blouse. I have several (all with the buttons on the "correct side" ) that I wear daily as they are androgynous enough that, well I wear them and no one says anything about them other than a few offhand comments about how nice they look!

Shirts, well I have a few white ones that I wear with my short-shorts or denim minis that I only button the two upper center buttons and tie the bottom in a knot at my tummy!

I think that we can all differentiate between what we would wear "en drab" and "en femme" and feel properly dressed for the occasion!

Virginia

[DeeDee]

Gosh, never counted buttons, but if it needs a cami under....its a blouse. If it buttons up the back...its a blouse. If it has a neck bow tie...its a blouse. If its flannel....its a shirt. And if it has paint splatters on it....its a work shirt.
DeeDee

[Ann Stef]

In the USAF, a blouse jacket was tge long jacket with 5 buttons considered a dress jacket for formal occasions as well as Class A dress. After leaving the air force, I wore the Ike jacket, but sent the blouse jacket to the "old country" of my mother. It was conbverted to a hunting jacket as it did have deeep side pockets for holding shells.