Designer Isaac Mizrahi Explains How the Invention of the Button Changed Fashion For the Better

The wonderfully amusing and talented clothing designer Isaac Mizrahi explained how the invention of the button changed the fashion world for the better during a 2018 episode of the TED series Small Thing Big Idea.

How the simple button changed the world, according to fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi.

Mizrahi joked that while the button was a good idea, the idea of a buttonhole was even better.

No one knows who invented the button. It might have shown up as early as 2000 BCE. It was decorative when it first started, just something pretty sewn onto your clothes. Then about 3,000 years later, someone finally invented the buttonhole, and buttons were suddenly useful.

He also explains his preference for buttons over other connecting items such as velcro or zippers. Not only for its convenience but for its durability, its silence, and its ability to pack a fashionable punch.

Zippers break; Velcro makes a lot of noise, and it wears out after a while. If a button falls off, you just literally sew that thing on. A button is… there for the long run. It’s not just the most elemental design ever, it’s also such a crazy fashion statement.

via Nag on the Lake