I don’t know why there is this decades long conspiracy to not give women pockets or to give us tiny, non-functional, or purely decorative pockets. You know the ones. It’s the pants with fake pockets in front, or worse, the “real ones” that are only two inches deep. It’s the jacket that only has pocket flaps. Or the expensive slacks with the well made pocket welts that appear to be stitched shut, but, when opened, don’t go anywhere. This has been going on for ages. I recently acquired a Victorian jacket that has a mysterious slit in one of the front seams. On the inside you can tell that it’s intentional. Turns out it’s for a pocket watch. It’s not a watch pocket, but a watch slit. Weird.
We are constantly told women didn’t have pockets historically. None in Victorian times (pocket watch slit not withstanding). None in the Elizabethan era. No colonial female pockets. But that just isn’t so. There are many examples in extant garments, paterns and paintings, showing conclusively that Women. Had. Pockets.
My theory is that, as various parts of our figures were being hidden in volumes of fabric, so were our pockets. If you can’t see them, clearly we must not have needed, wanted, or used them, right? And of course, what high class woman woman of leisure would need to do something so vulgar as to carry something herself. I also suspect that many women’s skirts and dresses, work-a-day ones that would have been worn out or remade, didn’t survive as often as the fashionable gowns that didn’t strictly need pockets. There are plenty of examples of women’s historical pockets out there, should you care to look. Check out this article on making your own at the V&A and one version of the sexist history of pockets via Medium.
For my Dickens Fair costume I decided to make a quilted, tie on, pocket. I did so because, 1. I don’t want to buy an appropriate bag, which were in vogue at that time, 2. I don’t want to make a appropriate bag, and 3. I don’t want to carry anything. I happen to think every garment should have a plethora of pockets. I chose to make an 18c size and shape quilted pocket because it’s pretty big (16″ x 10″) and I wanted to try out free-motion quilting (I’d never quilted a damn thing until the day before – I’ll get to why I tried it in a later post).
And there you have it. I have a historical pocket!. To use it, I’ll need pocket slits in my skirt and petticoats.
Next time: Son of Ugly Puffer
November 4, 2019 at 5:29 am
I think the very fact that so many modern female garments have fake pockets, proves that in the past women routinely had pockets in most garments. Otherwise where would the need for a simulated pocket come from? As to why we get fake rather than real pockets, that’s because the fake ones lie flat and do not fatten us up unnecessary. π Because obviously you wouldn’t want to add bags of stuff to your hips, now would you? You, being slender, can get away with some small bags of stuff, I think, but for most of us it is absolutely forbidden! Fat hips are a crime punishable by fashion oblivion, don’t you know! π
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November 5, 2019 at 1:10 pm
I do agree about the fake pockets laying correctly in modern garments, but whenever I run into that kind of thing in the wild I tend to think that whoever designed the garment wasn’t trying hard enough. Better made clothes are more likely to pull off normal pockets. Sometimes just better fabrics (less stretch, and I do appreciate stretch) can do the trick. Considering the amount of stuff some women carry in their purses I’m sure they would indeed try to carry sizable “bags of stuff” in their pockets!
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November 5, 2019 at 2:01 pm
I’ve been told repeatedly as a mantra, since I was about 9 years old, not to ever carry anything in my pockets, save perhaps a very small hanky. Or a bus ticket. But not both – that would make the pocket bulge and make me look fat. And seeing how I’ve always been wide-boned (genuinely), it was always a must to avoid fatness at all costs. Those wide shoulders were already “unfeminine enough” thank you very much! (Good thing I didn’t really listen.)
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November 9, 2019 at 4:33 pm
Certainly not both π. Wait until you see my (super crappy) pseudo-victorian quilted petticoat. I’m going to feel huge.
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