Articles of Interest, Season 1, Episodes 3 “Pockets” and 10 “Suits”
If there’s anything I learned from Episodes 3 (Pockets) and 10 (Suits), it’s that Wow, fashion could use a little moderation!
(I’m kidding, that’s not true. But I’ll explain what I mean after the summary.)
This week, we took a step back to dive into the history of two pieces of clothing we see daily: Pockets and Suits. Let’s take those one at a time.
Pockets, put simply, have not stood the test of time (especially for women). They’re supposed to be functional features, of mobility and design. They’re supposed to help us carry around the things we need and at the same time be internal and intimate. And they were, for a large part of history. But as fashion changed, so did pockets. For women, this meant that their pockets became smaller, detached, and external. Pockets became reticules, reticules became purses, and where a pocket was once supposed to go, was now a useless square of fabric sewn on clothes to resemble the shape of a pocket. For men, of course, they got more. Pockets everywhere — breast pocket, cowl pocket, besom pocket, flap pocket, pouch pocket, the list goes on. Men got more pockets than they needed. I’ll explore this juxtaposition a little later.
Suits, however, have gone through very few changes in history. They’re popular because of their uniformity and consistency throughout time. Trufelman gives a perfect example of this phenomenon by pointing out awards show ceremonies. While it’s acceptable for dresses to be dramatic and unique, suits are all basically the same — black jacket, black pants, white shirt, and tie. People add their flair onto suits through “important little details” (episode 10, 00:04:36) such as slanted pockets, button variations, and subtle differences in cuts. Basically, tiny differences matter.
Circling back to what I said in the beginning, fashion could use a little moderation! Especially concerning pockets, I couldn’t help but notice how wasteful and futile the modern concept of pockets is. Did you know that female police officers almost exclusively wear men’s uniforms? Because the women’s pockets are too small. What a waste of fabric and labor just to make unusable women’s uniforms. The same concept applies to fake pockets stitched onto women’s clothes. What’s the point of wasting a piece of fabric and stitching it on all four sides? And that’s not even all. Trufelman points out that men’s clothing has too many pockets. More than anybody could possibly use. Excess to the point that people forget which pocket they put their things in. Why do we waste fabric making pockets that will never be used, and hold back where it could actually be useful? Honestly, it beats me.
Pockets might just be one of the few things that history actually got right. Take a look at this Women’s military uniforms in use from 1926-18.
The uniform consists of a jacket, a skirt, leather leggings, a blouse, and a tie, all decorated with large, functional pockets. It's a neutral and very dull color with nothing particularly eye-catching or flattering. Women's pockets with little to no functionality are a relatively new concept.
Whereas women's uniforms and clothes today have noticeably less function than men’s, this women’s uniform from a century ago featured full-size pockets and appears to emulate a mens uniform. This suggests that the decreasing functionality of pockets is correlated with the rise of consumerism.
Works Cited
“Beau Brummell.” Squaremilehealthwalks, 14 May 2019, https://squaremilehealthwalks.wordpress.com/2019/05/14/beau-brumell/.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Military Uniform.” Metmuseum.org, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/156998.
Team, VERVE. “The Bewildering and Sexist History of Women’s Pockets.” Medium, VERVE: She Said, 10 Sept. 2018, https://medium.com/verve-up/the-bewildering-and-sexist-history-of-womens-pockets-1edf3a98117.
Trufelman, Avery. “Pockets: Articles of Interest #3 – Episode Text Transcript.” 99% Invisible, 1 Jan. 1970, https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/pockets-articles-of-interest-3/transcript.
Trufelman, Avery. “Suits: Articles of Interest #10.” 99% Invisible, 1 Jan. 1970, https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/suits-articles-of-interest-10/.