while making my "Pi-rates!" artwork, i looked through references for button placements since Sindey prefers to present her masculinely, or at least leaning masculine. (because apparently, blouses are weird like that.) i wanted her coat to have its buttons on the male side.
her younger sister Taniya, on the other hand, would have her buttons on the opposite side instead.

so i had my sketch done, and then my line art nearly done. then last night, when i observed the button placements on the blouse i was wearing... the buttons are on the left side when unbuttoned! and then when i observed the button placements on some males wearing polo blouses... it was the same as in Taniya's blouse in the art (i.e., buttons on the right side when unbuttoned)! i internally panicked since i think i confused left and right on the references.
i mean, it's really confusing! i even thought in our country we had the placements reversed, lol.

and then i saw another person whose female college (university) uniform, for some reason, have the same button placements as male blouses i saw earlier. now that's MORE confusing!! which is actually correct?!?! /nm

and when i checked after i got home, welp, turns out the male ones have buttons on the right when unbuttoned, and females have theirs on the left. okay, so that means that university's female uniforms have male button placements...

now i don't really mind either side, but seriously, i don't get why there's a distinction between male and female blouses on the buttons? i mean, i didn't know that this subtle clothing feature is even gendered until i looked for references! whichever side the buttons are, they still have the purpose of closing the blouse when worn!

...okay i know that kind of contradicts my initial premise of wanting Sindey to look masculine, but for some reason i wanted to be... "accurate"? i think i'm still learning to fully let go of the notion that clothing has gender. but the button thing still baffles me. i never noticed until making the artwork.

i ended up not changing the initial sketches and lines in the "Pi-rates!" artwork. i mean, Taniya wouldn't mind wearing a traditionally masculine blouse like that, and Sindey already looks masculine enough in her own eyes haha