THE DEEP HISTORY OF THE POCKET by Paul Lonardo

Most of us grew up wearing jeans of one kind or another, and whether they were bell bottoms, skinny jeans, acid wash, or the kind that come with the tears and rips already in them, they all had pockets to accommodate things like a comb, wallet, cell phone, and other items. The pockets are just as important as the style of the pants itself, and we all may be guilty of taking them for granted. Afterall, besides accommodating all manner of personal items, where would we stuff our hands during awkward moments?

Pockets have gone through many makeovers over the years. Their standard presence seen today is relatively recent, and its history is rife with class and gender politics.

Pockets first began appearing on waistcoats and trousers about five hundred years ago. Up until then, pockets were separate bags, detached from clothing. These portable pouches were typically tied around the waist or hung from a belt and were used to carry essential items including currency. This practice was not new, as ancient people have long carried leather or cloth pouches to hold valuables. The so-called “Iceman” who lived around 3,300 BCE had a belt with a pouch sewn to it that contained a cache of useful items: a scraper, drill, flint flake, bone awl, and dried tinder fungus. In the middle ages, both men and women lugged around little pouches that were slung from a rope, allowing them to carry essentials around with them.

For 20^th century man, the names of the various things carried in these tucked-away pouches were hyphenated with “pocket” to create a moniker that described their small size and portable nature: pocket-handkerchief, pocket-knife, pocket-watch, pocket-money, pocket-book. While today “pocketbooks” mean lady’s handbags, a man’s pocket-book at this time was a small leather notebook-like case used for carrying papers, diary entries, notes, etc.

As thieves and “cutpurses” became more of a problem in the 17^th century, men began to cut slits in their shirts and pants, tucking their pouches inside their clothing for safekeeping. This practice necessitated making the bags flatter, which ultimately led to the next obvious step of attaching the pouches to the clothing itself. Tailors began to sew pocket bags into the seams of men’s breeches, and then into their coats. In the 18^th century, pockets were added to vests, and in the 1900s, many kinds of men’s garments began to include a wide range of pockets: inside/outside breast pocket, watch pocket, side/hip pants pocket, ticket pocket, etc.

This was still a time when only half the population wore pants. For women, pockets remained a separate garment tied on between a skirt and petticoat so that they could be removed and worn with multiple outfits. True pockets occasionally appeared as details on country-style dresses and aprons, but most were layered underneath their clothes with built-in slits to provide both concealment and easy access to the pouch without having to throw off yards of material.

For the most part, women continued to carry pouches under their billowing dresses through the late 1800s. These internal, reverse fanny packs proved no match for professional pickpockets, however, so it soon became common for women to carry a small drawstring reticule in their hand instead. Attached pockets made their way into some women’s garments, but they never quite took off, while pockets continued to be a fixture on men’s tailoring.

Then, in the late 1800s, as the Victorian era was coming to a close, women’s fashions shifted toward slim skirts and tiny waists. Consequently, the pockets became smaller, more ornate, and virtually useless. Women embraced outside pockets in a big way, and very quickly purses and handbags came into vogue. Hence, the modern-day association of bags-and women, pockets-and-men.

It wasn’t until the late 1920’s, when women co-opted menswear styles for themselves, that attached pockets made a comeback in women’s wear. This fashion trend remained somewhat controversial and off-the-radar until 1933, when Women’s Wear Daily became the first major publication to address the trend in an article titled, “Will Women Wear Trousers?”

As women increasingly sought their independence over the course of the previous century, part of their rebellion took focus on the pocket, and this included the writing of instruction manuals on how to sew pockets into skirts and other attire.

Today pockets are so common on apparel of all kinds that you don’t even think about it. One thing is for certain, pockets are here to stay, and they are certain to evolve to accommodate our needs. With cell phones continuing to get larger all the time, we may just need a separate pouch just to lug them around.