'Wouldn't it make life easier?': the growing campaign for pockets on women's clothes

Small things can mean a lot, and all revolutions start somewhere. So it is that the humble pocket, a repository for small things and once a minor consideration in clothes design, has become big news.

A growing movement decrying the lack of proper pockets in women’s clothing has begun to find disciples in the world of high fashion, as well as among mainstream chains.

A new study of the feminist question of pockets, published on 14 September has already made a sizeable impact, despite the modest aims of the author, American academic Hannah Carlson. “I was very careful to make each chapter fun, because I thought nobody was going to read a whole book about pockets. So I’ve been surprised by the attention,” she says.

When planning her book, Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close, Carlson says she kept in mind that similar “micro-histories” – studies purporting to explain the world through the analysis of, say, the development of the paperclip – have been the object of parody. But she was sure of her ground.

It is even possible, she suggests, that the true “age of the pocket” has now arrived, because everything necessary for daily life has become so small. Cash is of limited use, and address books, diaries and maps are all dead. Phones, and perhaps a lipstick, a key or a comb, are really all a woman needs, and this might mean we are not lumbered with bags any more.

Carlson, who lectures on apparel at the Rhode Island School of Design, will be heartened by some of the images emerging from London fashion week, where bulky jackets with big pockets are evident on male and female models. Vogue World, the sparkly red carpet event in the West End on 14 Septemberalso featured bits of bold pocketry, including on Kate Winslet, who wore a white trouser suit. And on the high street, the nostalgia for 00s looks has led to an outbreak of low-slung pockets on cargo pants.

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2023/sep/17/wouldnt-it-make-life-easier-the-growing-campaign-for-pockets-on-womens-clothes

When I used to sew mine and my daughter's clothes, I put pockets in just about everything, whether the pattern called for it or not. I was clever enough to do it. Now I don't, but it's a sense of annoyance when they aren't there. I wear pants most of the time though.