Why don’t my pants have pockets?
A walk through women’s fashion, its motivations and annoyances.
Hi,
If there’s anything I’ve always liked, it’s pockets. Who doesn’t like to have pockets?
I found out that I was not the only one, other women also want to have more pockets in their pants and dresses. Another thing that bothers me it is the extremely tight clothes and smaller than necessary, the so-called skinny and baby look. Who doesn’t feel relieved to be able to wear clochard pants?
Researching this I discovered that clochard in French means tramp, so clochard pants that are loose and with pockets would be tramp trousers in a free translation. Skinny means thin, so skinny pants would be pants for thin people in a free translation, well maybe thats why its so tight.
The word fashion means the passing use that governs, according to the taste of the moment, the way of living, dressing, a fantasy, taste, manner or way in which each one does things. Fashion comes from the Latin modus and means “mode”, “way” and “behavior”, in French the word is “mode” which means usage, habit or style. In English the word “fashion” refers to the Latin factio, which means making or manufacturing, with an industrial character. Fashion is the link between clothing and the historical period in which we live.
Since antiquity, fashion has reflected the society of the time, for example the color purple was for the nobles because it was very difficult to obtain. The color blue was for the commoners because there was an abundance of the substance that was used to make the color, the urine of the seamstresses themselves. With regard to pockets, in ancient times a small leather bag was used around the waist to carry coins.
The women’s clothes were always made with the intention of emphasizing the beauty and as the women did not need to leave the house and if they did, they were always accompanied by a man, they did not need any pendants to carry anything or spoil the beauty of their dresses full of petticoats and corsets fastened with iron bars.
In short, women should be dressed to be beautiful and sensual, while men should be practical and imposing, especially because they leave home to work. But that changed in the First World War, when men went to war and women had to stay in jobs, and the luxury of dresses was superfluous for a time of financial need. Then the dresses started to have fewer layers and the corsets were replaced by thick cloth vests to hold the breasts, but which allowed much more movement.
The funny thing is that women liked the most comfortable clothes, they liked it so much that they even founded a society of rational clothes, whose motto was: The Society of Rational Dress protests against the introduction of any clothing fashion that distorts the figure, prevents movements of the body or in any way impair the health. Protests against wearing tight corsets; high-heeled shoes; heavy skirts, which make healthy exercise almost impossible; and all tied capes or other garments that prevent arm movements. Protests against crinolines or crinolets of any kind, as they are ugly and deforming … [she] demands that everyone be dressed in a healthy, comfortable and beautiful way, to seek what leads to birth, comfort and beauty in our clothes as a duty to ourselves and each other.
This shows the female desire to have practical and comfortable clothes, not only sensual and beautiful. What I think is that this desire was never heard by stylists, mostly men, who wanted to dress women the way they saw her, as instruments of beauty and sensuality. Coco Chanel is an example of the difference that can be made in fashion when a woman stylist makes clothes to meet women’s desires. Chanel revolutionized fashion with short hair, loose and straight dresses, skirts much shorter than usual. This woman with a strong personality revolutionized the fashion of the 1920s by reinventing the female wardrobe: dresses without corsets, hats without flowers, quilted bags, neutral tones (black, white and beige).
In fact, pockets were introduced into women’s clothing at the time of the suffragettes, these women were not only fighting for the right to vote. So much so that women’s jackets with many pockets are called suffragette jackets. However, fashion wouldn’t change that easily. The concept that women’s clothes should accentuate the sensuality of the body nowadays makes them fit well on the body to emphasize the shape and the pockets actually spoil the look with excess cloth. Therefore, according to fashion, women should wear handbags. Not to mention that it makes a lot for the handbag industry, it is more advantageous to sell skinny pants and a handbag than to sell cargo pants and nothing more.
Fashion is such an intolerable variation of horror that it has to be changed every six months.
- Oscar Wilde
All vices, when in fashion, pass through virtues.
- Jean Molière
Fashion is a reflection of social thought, an expression of art, but also a way of labeling. Fashion should not label us or restrict us. Let it be said by Harry Styles and his dress on the cover of Vogue, Young Thug and his dress on the cover of his Rap album, Cara Delevingne wearing a tuxedo for the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Rain Dove the model who parades on the male and female catwalk without problem. These are the icons of GENDERLESS FASHION today. Because your gender, race or social class doesn’t have to dictate what you can and cannot wear.
