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creator, and “fact guy” @dougiesharpe took some time to create a TikTok that reveals this mystery by providing useful historical content.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 to get 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 in which 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 to wear 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 had 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
Image credits: @dougiesharpe
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 them, 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
Bored Panda contacted TikTok creator Doug Sharpe to find out more about his creative process when making these informative fact videos. The man didn’t hide his surprise at seeing his videos go viral online. He shared that while the “TikTok algorithm is a mystery”, all he focuses on is what his posts are about and how frequent they are. “As much as I shouldn’t, I do live and die with each post. I put a lot of effort into each video so it feels really nice when people like the video, watch it, and enjoy it. This is my art, so just like any other artist, it feels great to be appreciated and enjoyed,” concluded the creator.
Designer Coco Chanel was taking her inspiration from menswear when designing clothes for women
Image credits: @dougiesharpe
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
Doug also added an important detail about the video in question, revealing some insights into how he creates his TikTok videos and how even putting a lot of effort into your work doesn’t save you from making a human error. He explained: “40 seconds into the video I talk about woman’s clothing getting bulkier and to access the pocket around her waist, a woman would need to lift her petticoat and underpetticoat, but I forgot to say that there were also dress designs that had slits in the front so women could reach through their petticoat and underpetticoat and access the pocket around their waist conveniently. This was included in the script but when I recorded the video it somehow got missed and I didn’t notice the omission until a number of TikTok users pointed out in the comments that I had forgotten to mention this dress design in the video.”
The content creator shared that he spends nearly 2 hours researching the facts he’s going to talk about, basing it on at least 3 sources. The mistake he revealed made him even more cautious, so now he takes more than 2 or 3 times to check whether his video matches the original script. While making mistakes might seem like an unpleasant experience, Doug sees it as an opportunity to communicate with his audience, reply to their comments or answer questions.
Image credits: @dougiesharpe
Image credits: Colorado Women's Hall Of Fame
The 31-year-old who spent around 10 years living in China, and now resides in Whistler, British Columbia, grew up in a family of high achievers. He is not only known for his created content but also for being a professional snowboarder, mountain biker, and stunt double. Having in mind his adventurous nature, he also revealed some of his future plans: “My biggest goal in life is to live out of my snowboard bag forever and just travel around the world doing fun facts in every location imaginable. I want to do fun facts about the colosseum at the colosseum, facts about Patagonia in Patagonia. I always really try to ensure that the scene behind me matches the fact I’m talking about; like if I’m doing a fact about Ikea, I film it in an Ikea. If I’m doing a fact about roller coasters, I film it on a roller coaster. I think it makes the fact feel a lot deeper if the scene behind you matches the fact you’re talking about.”
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
The TikTok user also shared some information about how he comes up with ideas for his videos, revealing that very often the inspiration comes from someone having a question about something, for example, “why don’t women's clothes have better pockets”, and this is enough for Doug’s mind to start racing, wanting to find an answer and share it with others by creating a video. “I wouldn’t be able to go through the rest of my day if I had a question sitting in the back of my head. If I have a question or someone near me has a question I NEED TO KNOW THE ANSWER, I’ll become obsessed with the question if I don’t learn the answer. And sometimes that leads me down deep rabbit holes,” revealed the creator.
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!
The history of women's clothing and the absence of pockets ties intriguingly into the broader theme of how societal contexts influence what we see in fashion today.
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