Tuesday, July 29, 2008Hanging Directions Be forewarned: this is really a very weird use of my blog this morning. But I need to know. And I need for you, whoever is out there, to give me some information.I really had the wind knocked out of my sails this morning when I was confronted by a Whole New Thought. I won't go into details how it came up, but it was brought to my attention that some people hang their shirts with the buttons facing to the left (as it hangs on the pole in the closet) and some hang their shirts with the buttons facing to the right. I, personally, am a right-facing kind of gal. And the person I was calmly and rationally discussing this with is, as it turns out, a left-facing kind of guy. Which is fine. Really. I'm OK with diversity of thought. But, being me, I have to be, well, right. I mean, I have to do some research to prove that my way is better. Well, OK, not to prove. But more to find out if I've been some freak of right-facing nature my whole life, or if I've got company. And let me make it clear, that clothes-hanging is the ONLY place in my life that I prefer the right to the left. It's not a political statement, by a long shot. Actually, I'm just really interested in seeing if this is a gender-based preference (as he asserts) or just habituation. So I started asking around. My data set, at this moment, consists of two people. One of whom laughed outright at the thought that anyone would even GIVE a shit and was pretty much happy when most of the clothes ended up mostly on the hanger, and the direction the buttons were facing was utterly and completely moot. (She also said, I believe with a hint of sarcasm, that I deserved someone in my life who was as preoccupied with button-facing as I am.) Another friend looked at me like I was crazy (I'm suspecting I'll have to get used to that), without any comprehension of what I was talking about, until we determined that his pole stuck straight out (in his CLOSET, god!) so the way his buttons faced was kind of moot as the hangers were all facing him straight on. He did make a good point though: that when he gets his shirts cleaned at the cleaners, they are put on the hanger in such a way that the buttons WOULD face left if he had a pole that went sideways (in his CLOSET). So, OK. Maybe the cleaners have a point. But I'm not giving this up without more stats. So, now I'm really curious. I'm curious about all sorts of things: which way buttons should face, if button-facing is anything that anyone cares about, if this is a gender issue, and (of course) which way people's poles face (in their CLOSET). I'm glad you waited almost a month to see what new profound thing I'd come up with in this blog. All of you with RSS feeds (you know who you are) who were momentarily elated to see me post something... well, sometimes ya get what ya get. I DID write a pretty good post at www.theDHX.com the other day, so if you really need some dark profound shit, you can procure over there. For me, today, it's buttons. Buttons and which way your poles face. Please comment. Inquiring minds want to know. # posted by Katherine Doughtie Nolan @ 9:50 AM  
Comments: I wasn't being sarcastic! It was said with affection. As for me, I hang my shirts in many different directions. I think they generally start out facing the center of the closet (shirts to the left of center face right and to the right of center face left), but I don't really do it on purpose and I don't always do it. And as I move shirts around they get all shuffled together anyway. I like to think of it as a big, diverse, all-orientation accepting party in my closet... # posted by  Unknown : 10:33 AM
Also, I do hang my clothes carefully in terms of how the fabric drapes on the hanger. Often I dry shirts on the hanger, so I make sure when I hang them that they are aligned nicely on the hanger. I just don't care which way the hanger faces.
# posted by Unknown : 10:36 AM
When I hang them, that is. Okay I'm done commenting.
# posted by Unknown : 10:38 AM
Your closet is SO Walden School. My closet WANTS to be a buttoned down (heh heh get it) military school, but it's more like an ineffectual, overpriced, worn out prep school where the PR totally surpasses reality.
# posted by Katherine Doughtie Nolan : 10:44 AM
After years working in retail clothing, I have not just the buttons facing one way (left) but the shirts sorted from sleeveless to short sleeve to long sleeve to jackets/sweaters. I get sloppy on the colors though. I have just happily converted my man's closet to this sytem and made wearable clothes he forgot he had, wedged in among bulky stuff.For me, the left facingness is mostly related to the physical structure of my closet. Since the doors open from the middle, that is where I stand and by having the shirts all face me I am more easily able to distinguish among different styled but identically colored shirts (ie white cotton shirts). Also, ths just struck me, if my shirt buttons faced right, all the shirts would be "facing away" from my viewpoint. As if all of my clothing were "turned away" from me. I wonder if that would subtly feel weird, like a familiarly dressed crowd of people turning their back first thing in the morning. Um, it has been that kind of day. # posted by Unknown : 12:00 PM
I have them facing left...but that may be because I approach my closet from the left because of how it is situated and I may be offended if I felt my shirts had their backs to me.
# posted by Thursday Girl/Hollis the Cat : 3:18 PM
EXACTLY. I realized this last night. I have a right-facing closet. I don't want to sneak up on my shirts. I want them to embrace me like the ratty old long-lost lovers they kind of are. I want us to both be aware of each other as I walk into the room. No funny biz. No sneaking and pouncing. If I'm good to them, they'll be good to me. I rest my case.
# posted by Katherine Doughtie Nolan : 5:29 PM
The fact that any of you have your clothes on hangers just proves how much more evolved you all are than me. I thought that's what the chair in the corner was for. Any of you who know me personally know there's no way these bodacious tata's could possibly be buttoned up so I'm not sure I can help ya. Good luck on figuring this one out. Funny read though!
# posted by LoriAnn's Blog : 5:01 PM
The fact that any of you have your clothes on hangers just proves how much more evolved you all are than me. I thought that's what the chair in the corner was for. Any of you who know me personally know there's no way these bodacious tata's could possibly be buttoned up so I'm not sure I can help ya. Good luck on figuring this one out. Funny read though!
# posted by LoriAnn's Blog : 5:01 PM
Andrea and I are left-facing buttoners. We have to have strong left tendencies to have been yaller-dog Democrats in Texas.
# posted by Ed Doughtie : 7:42 PM
Remember too, the men's shirts (and jackets -- and trousers!) button the reverse of women's. The theory I learned many years ago was that men needed to be able to reach their sword (the metal one, darlings!) without the clothes impeding them. I've also hear that the reason that women's are reversed is that upper-class women were always dressed by their maids, and so were set up to be better accessible to right-handed servants.Now as to how they hang on a closet rod, I would think that one would hang them so that the front was facing you, based on your handedness and how you reach into the closet. In my own closet, it's generally random. [grin] # posted by Hedgewizard : 11:17 AM
Hi, I came across your site and wasn’t able to get an email address to contact you about some broken links on your site. Please email me back and I would be happy to point them out to you. Hailey William haileyxhailey@gmail.com # posted by hailey : 4:51 AM
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