In episode 3, titled “Pockets”, Trufelman discusses the history of pockets in western clothes. She recounts how women’s pockets went from a useful, separate undergarment to something that was just for show or simply nonexistent. Men’s pockets, on the other hand, grew more and more numerous into the 20th century.
Episode 10, titled “Suits”, centers around what Trufelman calls the Great Male Renunciation, or the slow simplification of men’s clothing through the 19th and 20th centuries. This phenomenon resulted in men’s formal wear being largely the same, with differences becoming minute.
These episodes discuss suits in two clashing manners. Episode 10 labels suits and the end product of the Great Male Renunciation, a simple outfit that has little variation. This happened because, as Guy puts it,
“The trajectory of what created the suit … has always been the need for more democratic, simpler, dress down, relatable clothes(Suits 00:17:55-00:18:05).”
Yet episode 3 tells a story of suits going in a different direction: “Pockets were getting added, and added, and added over the course of decades. And by the early 20th century it was just getting ridiculous(Pockets 00:11:46-00:11:52).” This needless complexity, or unmodern ness as the episode called it, is the exact opposite direction of what the previous episode talked about. How can both these contradictory claims be true?
This is a suit from the early 20th century. It has a long coat, a vest, a button-down shirt, and long, black pants. To us today it looks like something we may wear to a fancy event; it’s complex and intricate. Its name, however, tells a different purpose. This suit was something that was meant to be worn casually, as a normal outfit. Suits then weren’t considered fancy because they were simply normal clothes. This differing view of the suit comes from a difference in perspective. One from when large, silk outfits were considered the norm, and the other from a time when suits had been left behind in the journey to simplify the wardrobe.
Works Cited
Trufelman, Avery. “Pockets: Articles of Interest #3 .” 99% Invisible, 99% Invisible, 2 Oct. 2018, https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/pockets-articles-of-interest-3/transcript.
Trufelman, Avery. “Suits: Articles of Interest #10.” 99% Invisible, 99% Invisible, 26 May 2020, https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/suits-articles-of-interest-10/transcript.