Quote Originally Posted by KiltedSurveyor View Post
It is possible to imagine a jacket where the right lapel (the one with the buttons) actually has working button holes. In colder weather, you could undo the right lapel, tuck it under the left lapel, and button the left lapel on the buttons you could see. When not that cold, the buttons could keep the right lapel from flapping about.
I had wondered exactly the same thing myself, and even that there might be a matching set of buttons hidden under the buttonholes on the other side, but there is little evidence to support that. There is no obvious buttonhole showing in the blown up image under each button and only the top two or three buttons could possibly fasten given the curvature of the front of the jacket

Still a possibility though