Have you ever seen a woman showing off a new piece of clothing and being so happy that it has pockets? Or perhaps you’ve been that person who loves to twirl around with your new dress, hands in your accidentally discovered pockets? Knowing the history of fashion and the reasoning behind why women’s clothing doesn’t have them, suddenly, this whole satisfaction makes a lot of sense. Hearing all those jokes about how women “suffer” from a lack of this detail posed the question of why exactly women don’t have pockets in their pants and other pieces of clothing. TikTok user, video creator, and “fact guy” @dougiesharpe took some time to create a TikTok that reveals this mystery by providing useful historical content. The man started his explanation by touching upon topics such as women’s rights, the suffrage movement, the French Revolution, and the Second World War, and how these important events had an impact on such a little thing as pockets.
More Info: TikTok
TikTok user decided to answer the question of why women’s clothing doesn’t have pockets
Image credits: @dougiesharpe
The content creator revealed that the handbag industry is behind this and shared some historical facts on the matter
Image credits: @dougiesharpe
In the middle ages, people would wear pouches with rope tied around their waist that served as a pocket
Image credits: Medium
The video that now has 268k views starts by stating that the reason why women don’t have useful pockets in which they could actually put their things is because of the handbag industry. And if we think about it, it seems like a plausible reason, having in mind the number of handbag and backpack choices, the advertised need of getting the “bag of the season”, and the variety of those found in women’s closets. This reason might seem quite infuriating having in mind the discussion about how much more women have to invest in their appearances, and also remember the “Pink Tax”, which is explained as a trend when women have to pay more than men for the same type of products.
As women’s clothing became more intricate, they could no longer wear pouches
Image credits: @dougiesharpe
Image credits: Rijksmuseum
Many layers of clothing made women refuse wearing a rope with a pouch
Image credits: @dougiesharpe
Image credits: Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The TikTok creator went back to the middle ages when both men and women would wear a rope with a pouch around their waist to be able to put some things in there. But the situation started to change in the 17th century when actual pockets were sewn into men’s clothing. However, the same technique couldn’t be applied to women’s dresses as they were with more layers which made it harder for them to reach it, as it would require them to lift some layers of the dress, and who would want to do that in a public setting? Later on, when their clothes were made to accentuate their waist and form, the pockets had to go.
As fashion evolved, women had to say goodbye to their pockets
Image credits: @dougiesharpe
Image credits: CharmaineZoe’s Marvelous Melange
With no pockets, women were presented with its replacement – a small bag called a reticule
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Image credits: Wikimedia Commons
This is when reticules became a thing. Oxford Learners Dictionaries defines it as “a woman’s small bag, usually made of cloth and with a string that can be pulled tight to close it”. It was said that these bags weren’t very practical as there wasn’t much you could put in it, and were created for a sole purpose of being an accessory. It was believed that the bag represented the idea of women not having much wealth or property and thus not needing a big purse because they didn’t have much to carry anyway.
Reticules served more as an accessory than a functional handbag because it was believed that women didn’t have anything to put there anyway
Image credits: @dougiesharpe
Another interesting fact mentioned by the TikTok user is the way pockets became an important symbol for women and their rights. It was thought that during the French Revolution, women were even banned from having clothes with pockets as this way they would be able to hide “revolutionary material”. When the women’s suffrage movement started, they used pockets as a symbol that represented the change they were seeking.
Pockets served as a symbol of the women’s suffrage movement that was fighting for women’s rights
Image credits: U.S. Embassy The Hague
Image credits: @dougiesharpe
Image credits: Medium
Pockets were brought back as a detail of functional clothing with the start of World War II when women were brought to the workforce. Now the number of pockets seen on women’s work clothes also served as an indication of their independence. However, after the war ended, women’s fashion was back to the same tight and form-fitting silhouettes, and so the handbag industry was back on its tracks again. This is where we are now, still experiencing the need for pockets.
What do you think about this sneaky cooperation between clothing brands and handbags? Don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments down below!
Image credits: @dougiesharpe
Image credits: Aimé Dupont
Designer Coco Chanel was taking her inspiration from menswear when designing clothes for women
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Image credits: www.careergirldaily.com
During the Second World War, women joined the workforce and had to wear functional clothing that needed to have pockets
Image credits: @dougiesharpe
Image credits: JarJarDrinks
Image credits: @dougiesharpe
Image credits: Colorado Women’s Hall Of Fame
The situation changed once again after the war ended and women’s fashion was back to feminine silhouettes
Image credits: @dougiesharpe
Image credits: vintagedancer.com
This is when the handbag industry once again came to prominence and remains so to this day
Image credits: vintagedancer.com
Image credits: @dougiesharpe
You can watch the full video down below!
@dougiesharpe I had no idea how deep this went. Collusion between the handbag industry and the womens fashion industry is the reason why womens clothing doesn’t have pockets #womensfashion #womensrights #womenssufferage #pocket #womenspockets #funfact #funfacts #edutok #historytok #womenstok #fact #facts #clothinghistory #handbag #handbaghistory #tailor #clothing ♬ original sound – dougiesharpe