Written by: Manaswi Sapkota - 26004, Grade VIII
Posted on: 09 December, 2021
Women’s pockets weren’t always so small as they are in the 21st century. But to know more about this we will need to dive into the history of pockets in general. So who started this pocket trend? Well allegedly, it is said that the use of pockets was first done by a person called Otzi also known as the IceMan. Since then we can assume that pockets have been a part of the garment.
At the beginning of the development pockets were whole separate garments rather than being a part of our garments. Both men and women of that century carried huge garments that had the capacity to fit books, scissors, loaves of bread, etc. These garments were looped into the belts of the people making it more accessible. These ties on pockets were mostly used by merchants and business doers. These pockets came with various designs and were made with various types of fabrics. These pockets didn’t leave the scene until the very end. Pockets are something made for practical use but in case of women’s pockets the designs stay the same and the tie on pockets stay with women for a few more centuries.
The tie on pockets came in so many varieties that sometimes it became overwhelming to keep count of. There were pockets that were hand woven with linen, cotton, wool, silk , leather and so many more materials. These pockets were made for all kinds of people: Merchants, Business Doers, Buyers, Sellers, Hikers, Travellers, etc. They were made with various designs as I mentioned before. Some were plain, some had flowers, mountains, rivers, and other things woven into them by thick and colorful threads. Some opened vertically and some opened horizontally. There were so many more designs of the tie on pockets. These pockets were also experimented on as to appeal to the general public. The tie on pockets defined a person’s social and economic status as well. If someone carried a plain looking pocket that was made of a cheap fabric we could assume they are either from a poor or a middle class family. Pockets also described a person’s profession. This was mostly all about the designs of pockets back in the days.
Women’s tie on pockets did go through a golden age during the 17th century. The dress in this era had wide hips which meant a lot of pocket placing ideas for the creative women of the era. Even though the pockets were more wide and fashionable it was a little inconvenient when you had to bend down to get things. Well these kinds of clothing and pockets obviously were mostly used by the upper class women as they were more expensive. Well this was the golden age of tie on pockets for women.
Now after the craze for the high waisted, wide hip clothing and pockets such to fit them, people started getting hyped over slimmer silhouettes and so women didn’t use bulkier, wider pockets to look slimmer. The pockets as some might say were probably replaced by handbags but "The reticule is not or never can be a fair representation of the substantial and spacious pockets which our ancestors wore.They were proper pockets, such as reticules never can be," was stated by an Edwardian source. You might be wondering what reticles are, well, they are small handbags that we can carry around. Due to reticles never being a replacement for the pockets we can safely say that reticules weren’t the cause for the small pockets that don’t even fit a phone nowadays.
Between the 19th century men started having sewn in pockets in their garments. The pockets were made in a more “masculine” way. Women at that time still had to use ties on pockets. Their pockets weren’t sewn into the garment like the men. This caused many women to start a protest about women having sewn in pockets as well. After long protests women did start having sewn in pockets in their garments but women still didn’t have much options in case of clothes with sewn in pockets. The clothes that did have pockets sewn in them had less space than of men. Even then the pockets were quite big to fit a small book, phones, cheese, etc. So why did the pockets shrink so much in the 21st century?
Well despite women winning the pockets got smaller in the name of “ Fashion.” The people wanted a slimmer silhouette and if the size of the pockets were to be increased the silhouette of a woman would look larger. Due to that reason our skirts, coats, etc didn’t have as much space as men, but that still isn’t a satisfactory answer. Well people then started wearing skinny pants that were tight and to hide the bulk the size of pocket in women’s pants got smaller, that still isn’t reasonable as men in that century did have tight pants too but had sufficient pockets in their garments. They not only had pockets on their pants but on their vests as well.
Well basically in the name of fashion women’s comfort and rights are being taken from right under our noses by the privileged gender who never had to face the problem of insufficient space to hold their personal items.
Reference: Source: https://youtu.be/uaRoWPEUTI4
