It's clearly motivated by the cut of the uniform collar:
Normally, the lower edge of the collar should slope downward, with the collar patches and collar sloping in the same direction, i.e. the lower edge of the collar patch parallel to the lower edge of the collar.
The tailor-made uniforms seen in posts # 180 and 182 have collars whose lower edges slope upwards. If the collar patches were worn on the intended sides, the collar and collar patch would slope in different directions, creating an ugly triangle-shaped gap.
Switching the collar patches around eliminates that problem: The edges of the collar and collar patch are parallel again.
This can sometimes be seen on other open-collared uniforms, too, for example of the
Luftwaffe.
I've drawn a rough sketch to illustrate what I mean (apologies; I know I'm not an artist):
- Kragen.jpg (40.07 KiB) Viewed 4763 times
