On a recent shopping trip to the Goodwill, I was drawn to a sealed plastic shoebox, full of an unknown variety of buttons. For $4.99, I thought it was the equivalent of an adult grab bag (one of my favorite things as a child). I am a huge fan of buttons.
The word “button” originates from the French word bouton, meaning “bud” or “knob.” Initially used to adorn men’s wear as a symbol of wealth and status, the eighteenth century was the great period of button design. Button makers were inventive in their choice of materials, using precious jewels, gold, porcelain, glass, shell, rare specimens, and many other embellishments of current fashion.Button collecting remains a hugely popular hobby. The National Button Society was organized in 1938 to emphasize the preservation and study of clothing buttons. It recognized the passion for button collecting as a hobby anyone could afford during the Depression years. Today local chapters count thousands of members and operate in 39 states. While I am not ready to join a Button Society, I am pretty excited by my recent acquisition.Most of the treasures in my box are from one maker, B. Blumenthal and Co. In 1877, Benjamin Blumenthal started his button company when clothing styles were dictated from Paris and corsets and bustles were all the fashion rage. Buttons on clothing were for function as well as decoration. Ninety percent of fashion buttons were imported. Benjamin Blumenthal used his knowledge of importing and distribution to supply buttons to the growing textile trades.After the turn of the century, there were rapid changes in materials and methods of manufacture. WWI opened the world to America, and using a variety of those new materials, American factories supplied nearly all of the country's need of buttons. Art nouveau was the design trend. Popular buttons were made of horn, bone, metal, ivory, and pearl. Buttons were covered in fabric, elaborate cording, and hand-stitched needlework. Celluloid was the first synthetic material to be used to make buttons.Over the decades, B. Blumenthal continued to be an industry leader. Because of WWII, importing of buttons stopped and American exports of buttons increased. The company continued to send people to Europe to stay aware of the latest fashion trends and designs. Designing of B. Blumenthal's La Mode® line was mostly done in the New York offices by this time.Growth in the company came because of the use of plastics and from selling to large department stores like Macy's and Marshall Field. This time period saw creativity in button materials as well as novelty designs. There were buttons of wood, Bakelite, cork, plastic, leather, and ivory. These Kelly green beauties were made in Japan. So dang cute.With most of my buttons being from the sixties, I feel a certain amount of nostalgia when I play with these trinkets. My mom was a wonderful seamstress and I loved her collection of buttons, sadly lost decades ago. I am still amazed at what can evoke memories... even something so little/simple as a button.
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3 comments:
I'm surprised so many are still on their cards!
Do you make anything with your buttons? I used to love my mom’s button box.
As an OT who worked on fine motor coordination with my patients I would often ask my ladies if they had a button box. We would use them for picking up and manipulating objects and it was always engaging for them and interesting for me!
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