Buttons: Beauty in small details
The term button is derived from the word “bouton” which is defined as a knob or a disk-like piece that is used to fasten and decorate clothing. Among the first item that closely represented a button can be dated back to around 200 B.C.. It was determined that the buttons were used for decorative and not for functional reasons. Near the 13th century a button found much more significance in clothing as it replaced sharp pins to keep together clothes and give them more of a form. French society further emphasized the value of a button as King Louis XIV spent over five million dollars on buttons during his lifetime.
Because of the king’s fondness for adorning clothes with buttons it became extremely simple to notice a person of royalty due to the number of buttons that were attached to their clothing. To keep the thought at the forefront of their minds regarding the prestige of wearing uniforms, King Fredrick of Prussia ordered the attachment of buttons on the uniform sleeves. The reason for this is so they would not wipe their noses on their sleeves. So not only did the buttons add an air of prestige to the uniforms they also did a lot to enhance the uniforms as aesthetic beauty.
At present day you will find that buttons come in different sizes, shapes, colors and textures. As a matter of fact you can even dress up a t-shirt with fancy buttons. You will find buttons are beautifying items such as jewelry and accessories, bags and purses and you can also find buttons spicing up political campaigns these days.