OBSESSED with the fact that buttons got so popular in England during the 13th century that they had to pass laws limiting how many buttons you were allowed to put on a garment. They really had to bring in the government to shut down the button mania. Buttons are the sexiest clothing fastener.
yesss! and I remember reading in fashion history class that some women sewed Too Many buttons on their garments but argued their way out of the fines because the extra buttons had no matching buttonholes so OBVIOUSLY they weren't actually functional buttons but beads!
I found the source again! The first-hand account is actually set in Florence in the 1300s (a little later than the 13th century and not England) but there too women would flagantly flaunt the sumptuary laws regarding, among other things, buttons and how many were suitable. Italy too said NAY BUTTONS ART TOO SEXY FOR THE MASSES.
Here is a snippet from Il Trecentonovelle by Franco Sacchetti translated into English:
Then he goeth farther and meeteth a woman wearing many buttons in front of her dress; he saith to her, 'Ye cannot wear those buttons,' and she answereth, ‘Yes, Messere, I can, for these are not buttons, they are beads, and if ye do not believe me, look at them; they have no hanks, neither have they any button-holes.'
Sources: 1, 2
There's no end to the hilarious folly of sumptuary laws and the endless (even more hilarious) ways that people found around them. :)
