“Women want a pocket”. An end to casual sexism on women’s clothing?

“Women want pockets. There’s nothing worse than reflexively wanting to put your hands in your pockets and realizing they’re not there.” This is what Hannah Knight, designer of the Birdsnest brand, expressed in the daily newspaper The Canberra Times in June Like her, many women have already raised their fists against this peculiarity of clothing, which has been preserved since the Middle Ages. Absent or very rare, their need has often been relegated to the background. For the fashion industry, women’s pockets can “spoil the line of a dress or garment, especially if they are filled with objects,” she recalls. New York Times . To compensate for this lack, women’s wardrobes have taken over bags. But the book published on September 12, 2023 intends to put the topic of pockets on the table again. Signed by American academic Hannah Carlson. Pockets. an intimate story about how we hold things close (Pockets: An Intimate Story of What We Keep Close to Us, in French) is presented as a study designed to give pride to a woman’s pocket. And to explain that in 2023 “his age” has finally come.

According to the author, who teaches fashion at the Rhode Island School of Design (USA), this return to power is partly explained by the miniaturization of everyday objects. Today, he notes that everything has been reduced. a smartphone contains a credit card as well as a diary, or even GPS and an address book. However, women’s pockets are still struggling. It is difficult to fit a smartphone or a pair of keys in jeans. A 2018 jeans survey published on The Pudding website found that on average, women’s pockets are 48% shallower and 6.5% thinner than men’s pockets. And that only 40% of women’s front pockets could fit a smartphone.

Women’s pockets are on average 48% shallower than men’s

Pudding Investigation, 2018

Usual sexism

But then why don’t women’s clothes have pockets or be much less practical than men’s? If we go back to the Middle Ages, we will notice that they were unisex and had a role as useful as private (personal effects were introduced). They are sexualized in the industrial age. The company commercializes itself, overproduction punctuates the everyday, and thus standardizes the pocket in a very masculine garment, the suit. Marquis Vincent de Gourney will also say: “Let the men do their work, let the merchandise pass.” In other words, it was legitimate for men to carry a pocket again, because they were more “active”. This small clothing feature took a political turn in the 20th century when British suffragettes fought for the right to vote in white suits with actual pockets.

But Christian Dior’s New Look silhouettes, which were very popular in the 1950s, did not go in this direction. The sizes are marked, the skirts are wide… there is little room for pockets. As a result, they shrink or disappear completely. For his part, Gabrielle Chanel will release what would make her world famous: the tweed suit, complete with jeweled buttoned jacket and pockets. The trend is spreading in stores, but the pockets still remain too small, looking more fashionable than practical. Meanwhile, handbags are becoming a wardrobe essential. And today, a financial windfall for fashion houses… Imagine that women no longer need this accessory. glamor is collapsing, and with it, a segment of the fashion industry.

Morality that evolves

But those who like very big pockets can be calm. besides Hannah Carlson, there are many personalities and brands that are putting pockets in the spotlight today. On the red carpet on September 14, Kate Winsley chose a white suit with accent pockets over a blazer. The result: she showed up to the photocall without even the tiniest bag. Not forgetting the epidemic of 2020, which redefined the contours of fashion trends. Since then, the desire has been for clothing that is as comfortable as it is practical, much more so than before the nines. Hence, in particular, the return of cargo pants for women. Not forgetting that morality is changing. If men are slowly getting into handbags, women enjoy rummaging through men’s wardrobes.

The genders merge on the catwalks and give way to XXL pockets for these ladies. A recent fashion show at Louis Vuitton, for example, gave pride of place to fairly large areas sewn into the clothes, allowing models to insert their entire arms. When others preach on social networks. The Instagram page Girls Carrying Shit (Girls Carrying Shit, French) offers its 13,500 subscribers pictures of women with their hands often loaded with all kinds of objects. Suffice it to say that even a handbag can be a little off-putting. Especially since the cool look we usually associate with hands in our pockets doesn’t always work on men. In January, Japanese MP Seiji Kihara was forced to apologize after being photographed with his hands in his pockets. A “disrespectful” attitude for many Japanese people.