PRE-18^TH CENTURY

In the pre-18th century, finding clothes with pockets was like finding a seat on the train at peak hour. Stressful, and very unlikely. However, men and women alike carried around small pouches to hold their belongings and all clothing was made with this in mind. Your average dress featured small slits to make this pouch easily accessible, meaning everyone was able to carry around a few coins and other essentials. Ironically, this pocketless time might be the last time women and men had equal access to pockets.

As the 1600s rolled around, we started seeing advances in fashion. People began to sew their pouches directly into their clothes, rather than donning and removing the same pouch day-to-day. And so, the gift of pockets was bestowed upon the world! 

...Except mostly for men, really. While men’s pockets were sewn into the lining of their coats or jackets for easy access, women’s fashion at the time consisted of dresses with lots of layers of petticoats. Their pockets sat under all these layers meaning women basically had to get undressed to retrieve something from their now less-convenient pockets. What a faff it must’ve been.

Types of Dresses with Pockets

THE 20^TH CENTURY

The early 20th century saw the rise of the suffrage movement. As women fought for the rights they’d been denied for far too long, one thing became a surprising battleground - you guessed it - pockets. 

In 1910 the ‘suffragette suit’ became all the rage; a dress suit with six pockets, it represented how the fight for equality entwined with the need for functional fashion to enable independence. Wartime then pushed women into the workforce in greater numbers than ever before and fashion focused more on practicality by necessity. Women finally had the pockets denied to them since the 17th century. But this was short-lived.

When WWI ended, men came back into the day-to-day workforce in waves and the economy recovered. Women were once again relegated to the home, and more ‘feminine’ clothing came back into style. This, combined with the growth in the handbag industry, meant pockets were once again phased out.

This pattern continued throughout the 1900s. Even as trousers and other traditionally masculine garments became commonly worn by women, the pockets were, annoyingly, shrunk to a much smaller size in feminine styles.

Just like the 18th century, bags were the order of the day for women as their pockets were either non-existent or essentially useless.