Vent: I always thought pockets in women's clothes were just a style choice...

I was reading a book about clothes from the 1800s and it said something that really got me. It said that for a long time, women's dresses didn't have pockets at all. They used these little bags tied around their waist under their skirts instead. The book said it was partly because showing a pocket bulge was seen as not proper. I found this at the library in a book called 'The Hidden History of Everyday Things'. It made me realize pockets weren't just left out to make a line look better... it was an old rule about what women should look like. Now when I sketch a dress, I think about that. I'm putting pockets in everything now, even fancy stuff. It feels like fixing an old mistake. Has anyone else run into a historical fact that changed how they design?

3 comments

3 Comments

susan_wright341mo ago

That "quiet protest" idea is a bit much. Sometimes a dress just looks better without pocket lines ruining the clean shape, like maybe @joel_hall17's friend's wedding dress. Not everything needs a deep meaning, it can just be about the style.

taylor.sean1mo ago

That's such a cool find at the library! It reminds me of seeing old photos of factory workers during the world wars. The women wearing pants with real, huge pockets because they needed them for tools. Then the ads right after the war went back to dresses without them, pushing that "proper" look again. It really shows how function gets taken away when it's not about women's needs anymore. Your plan to add pockets to everything is awesome. It's like a quiet protest in every seam.

joel_hall171mo ago

Yeah, that "quiet protest in every seam" line got me... my friend actually sewed pockets into her wedding dress last year, just because she could.