Kangaroos have them.
MacGyver relied on them.
So why has it taken so long for the humble pocket to be appreciated?

I’m talking about the wonderful new renaissance of the pocket as both a fashion statement and a practical necessity. For us girls, this is most obvious in the uprising of fabulous pocketed dresses. From casual, summer, tailored and pinafore styles, the pocket dress is making a big global comeback– and we at Ask Bronny say yippy!

You may not think you actually need pockets – that’s what you have your $1000 genuine Italian Gucci handbag for, right? Funnily enough, the very first ‘pockets’ were actually very small bags or pouches that were pinned to the outside of one’s trousers on a special and elaborate ‘pocket-belt’. The Scottish invented a special kilt pocket, or ‘sporran’, a tradition continued even today. These tiny practical bags made it easier to carry around your valuables (be it rocks, rubies or love-notes), whilst also freeing up your hands for other purposes…

The increase in the number of “cut-purses” – or pick-pockets – saw people begin to attach their pouches to the inside of their outfits. This led to the rise in incidents of indecent exposure, with people accidentally flashing everyone in the marketplace while trying to fetch the money from their pockets. A necessary modification was the incision made in men’s trousers to avoid such embarrassment. It was not until the late 1700s that somebody’s rather wise wife decided to sew the interior pocket into the lining of her husband’s trousers, morphing into the many permanent pocket forms we find today.    

The shift from function to fashion has meant an evolution for the pocket. Past and lasting fashion phases have seen many articles adorned with pockets – from cargo pants and safari jackets, to the secret hidden pockets inside suit jackets. Many pockets have purely aesthetic purposes – a woman is unlikely to place coins in the strategically placed breast pockets of a tight shirt, while tiny pockets on capped sleeves are too small for even tiny fairy currency.

Ironically, many modern jeans come with ‘fake pockets’, where the appearance of a pocket is just an illusion. The reason for this is a combination of convention – where people need to maintain the appearance of pockets - and necessity; as it is far easier to pull on suction-leg jeans without the drama of straightening out the pockets. Little pockets can also be found on wide belts, inserted into hats (for beer and other necessities), in sports socks and even in pyjama pants. This has always confused me – just how many people actually sleep with their wallets?   

Men, in particular, will tell you that pockets were in fact invented to put their hands in. A great source of comfort and, ah, amusement, the male pocket is quite a different beast to its female counterpart. Some men may refuse to buy a perfectly perfect pair of jeans if the pockets are not deep enough for his hands, wallet, cell phone, assorted keys, breath mints, i-pod and cricket bat.

Of course, not everyone has caught on to the craze. Anyone watching women’s tennis will notice the absence of pockets in their skimpy little dresses; ultimately many female tennis players have to store their spare tennis balls in their underwear. Most pockets will not hold even half the amount of necessities we need each day when leaving the house, so often there is no point in ever using them.

Pockets can also be a source of disaster - after an unfortunate incident with a leaky pen or pocketed tissues going unnoticed through the washing machine. My little brother used to fill his pockets with hundreds of tiny pebbles – giving new meaning to ‘stone-wash’. When travelling overseas, tourists are often warned to keep nothing in their pockets because of quick-fingered pick-pockets – no wonder people are wary about filling them at all!

So even if you don’t think before picking your own pockets, perhaps this might just reinforce that it really is better for people to keep things inside their trousers…

Got a question about any of the above? Then why not AskBronny!