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'Girls need to carry things too!': How women's pockets became so controversial3 days agoShareSaveClare ThorpShareSaveAlamy(Credit: Alamy)Why do quina 16/05/17men's clothes have so many pockets, and women's so few? For centuries, the humble pocket has been a flashpoint in the gender divide of fashion. Now, with a #WeWantPockets hashtag gaining momentum on social media, is that finally set to change?Social media trends can frequently be hard to fathom and, at first glance, a recent spate of women posting TikTok videos of their hands grasping as many objects as they can physically hold on to seemed as unintelligible as many viral fads. But "the claw grip" is less random than it seems, serving as the latest Trojan horse for an issue that won't go away: why women's clothes don't have more pockets. Getty ImagesPockets feature heavily in the Prada womenswear collection for autumn/winter 2025-26 (Credit: Getty Images)It's become almost a meme in itself: a woman complimenting another woman on her dress, only for the reply to be an excitable declaration that: "It has pockets!" Forget hunting for the perfect jeans, the ultimate white T-shirt or the ideal little black dress – nothing gets hearts racing quite like a simple square of fabric. But behind all the lighthearted fervour lies a genuine frustration: the humble pocket has long been a flashpoint in the gender divide of fashion.At the fashion shows earlier this year many models swaggered down the catwalks with their hands pushed firmly into deep pockets – carrying an extra dose of confidencePocket inequality isn't new – it's a centuries-old frustration. But the issue has been thrust back into the spotlight with increasing frequency in recent years. A #WeWantPockets hashtag gained momentum on social media. As phones got bigger women realised how hopeless their pockets were. A 2020 YouGov survey in the UK found that four in 10 women had put an item of clothing back on the rack once they realised there were no pockets.When pockets do exist, they're usually shorter and narrower than those on men's clothes. Or, at their most maddening, nothing more than sheer illusion. Earlier this year an eight-year-old schoolgirl wrote to UK supermarket Sainsbury's asking why their girls' school trousers had fake pockets and the boys had real ones. "Girls need to carry things too!" she said. A representative from the retailer promised to look into the issue.Getty ImagesAt the recent shows for Simone Rocha (left) and Prada (right), models walked with hands in pockets (Credit: Getty Images)"Pockets have become a symbolic and very contentious part of male and female dress," says Caroline Stevenson, programme director of Cultural and Historical Studies at the University of the Arts London.At the autumn/winter 2025-26 fashion shows earlier this year, which set the trends for what we'll be wearing in the coming months, there were signs that the industry is taking note. Many models swaggered down the catwalks with their hands pushed firmly into deep pockets – carrying an extra dose of confidence compared to those with their arms flailing freely. At Simone Rocha, actress Fiona Shaw had her hands stashed away inside a black satin egg dress. There were plenty of pockets at Prada and Louis Vuitton too. Whether it's a significant shift or just a passing moment in the fashion cycle – or if it will trickle down to the clothes that women wear in their everyday lives – remains to be seen.Pocket history Pockets for women have long been an afterthought. "In the 16th and 17th Centuries, women did have a kind of pocket," says Stevenson. "They had what they called tie-on pockets which tied around the body and were underneath the skirts, which had a slit in the sides so you could reach into them."These tie-on pockets were often heavily decorated and used to store items like keys, money, handkerchiefs and sewing kits, as well as valuables like watches, snuff-boxes and smelling bottles.Getty ImagesIn the 16th and 17th Centuries, women wore tie-on versions that fastened around their waists, under their skirts (Credit: Getty Images)"They symbolised this sense of autonomy," says Stevenson. "But they disappeared in the late-18th and early-19th Century when the Regency style was introduced and silhouettes became much more form fitting." As pockets went away, so did that autonomy. "If as a woman you can't take your valuables into the public sphere, it makes you a lot more vulnerable and dependent on males or servants," says Stevenson. All the things that might go in pockets – money, keys, notes – symbolised things that weren't meant to concern women, like property, power and privacy. Some women started carrying small bags instead. "That was another thing that made you more vulnerable because it meant you couldn't really use your hands," says Stevenson. That idea of putting one hand in your pocket and leaning back, it makes you seem in charge. It makes you seem effortlessly cool – Elizabeth Evitts DickinsonWhile a lack of pockets was no doubt as frustrating to women then as it is now, it didn't really emerge as a political issue until the early 20th Century. "The suffragettes demanded votes for women, but also pockets," says Stevenson.Satirical cartoons of the time made fun of suffragettes stuffing their hands into big pockets like men. "It's interesting that a pocket became one of the symbolic ways to backlash against a woman's desire for independence and freedom," says Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson, the author of a new biography of a woman who was determined to solve the pocket problem: US fashion designer Claire McCardell.In Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free, Dickinson examines how McCardell – a hugely successful ready-to-wear designer, and one of the first to get her own label – pioneered the modern American look by designing clothes that fitted not just women's bodies, but their lives.Estate of Erwin Blumenfeld 2024Claire McCardle, pictured in 1945, was the first ready-to-wear womenswear designer to bring pockets to a wide female clientele (Credit: Estate of Erwin Blumenfeld 2024)"McCardell had a fundamental belief that clothes should be beautiful, practical and comfortable, and she understood that pockets were more than just a place to put things," Dickinson tells the BBC. "She understood the psychology of clothes, and that sometimes you just need to do something with your hands. That idea of putting one hand in your pocket and leaning back, it makes you seem in charge. It makes you seem effortlessly cool. There is a sort of visual statement about having a hand in a pocket."More like this:? How the 'prairie homemaker' lifestyle took hold? Hollywood's most stunning costume jewellery? How Gwyneth Paltrow became a divisive iconShe wasn't the first 20th-Century designer to give women pockets – Coco Chanel was already doing it for those who could afford her clothes, and her elegant creations were showcased by stars including Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy. But McCardell was designing for a different audience. "What was so important about McCardell was she was one of the first to marry high design with mass production." Dickinson argues that, for McCardell, clothes were a physical manifestation of women's ideas, identity and desires. "Pockets were one part of a system she put into play that thought about every aspect of how a woman got dressed. She thought of it because that's who she was. She was a career woman, single until her 40s, and she wasn't uber wealthy."Courtesy the McCardle familyUS designer McCardle pioneered the modern American look that fitted women's bodies – and their lives (Credit: Courtesy the McCardle family)McCardell had no time for many of the recurring arguments against pockets – including that they ruined the silhouette. "She understood the construction of clothes and how to place the pocket perfectly so that it worked with the item and made perfect sense. Her clothes were very simple and elegant, but so technologically advanced."Freedom of movementThe designer had an ally in legendary Harper's Bazaar editor Diana Vreeland, who was vocal about her love of pockets, once proposing an entire issue dedicated to them. Vreeland had to be gently reminded that a large part of the magazine's advertising revenue was thanks to handbags.This is still a factor today. "The fashion industry is invested in women having handbags, so it makes sense for them to push this idea that women should be carrying their belongings in something that's very separate from their garments," says Stevenson. Vreeland would later ask McCardell to design a dress for women to wear during World War Two, resulting in the iconic "pop-over", a simple wrap dress with, of course, a large pocket.But McCardell's efforts to give women fashion that matched their lives and ambitions were soon steamrollered by a new face in fashion. Practical clothing was needed during the war but once it was over, Christian Dior's New Look championed cinched waists and full skirts and a silhouette that harked back to a traditional idea of femininity. Fantasy trumped practicality. In 1954 Christian Dior reportedly stated: "Men have pockets to keep things in, women for decoration."It's ironic, then, that Dior's autumn/winter 2025-26 collection – the final to be designed by outgoing Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri – was full of them. Describing the clothes in the show notes Chiuri said that: "silhouettes are firmly anchored in the present, emphasising both the functional role of clothing and the part it plays in responding to modern desires". It felt like a 180 turnaround – but with Chiuri, the house's first female creative director, now replaced by Jonathan Anderson – and many other houses, including Chanel, Versace, Celine and Alexander McQueen headed up by men, can we really expect pockets to remain a priority?Getty ImagesCoco Chanel included the feature in many of her designs, though her pieces were only available to the very affluent (Credit: Getty Images)"We have moved away from women being the predominant designers of clothes," says Dickinson. "With that I think we move away from a woman's point of view and fashion becomes, again, about a woman as an object wearing clothes, versus a woman as an autonomous person moving through the world in things that make sense for her life." Stevenson agrees that practicality is not a priority, at least in high-end fashion. "The fashion industry doesn't prioritise this idea of female autonomy or independence when they are designing. It comes down to this idealised female silhouette."I love a good handbag. They help me carry a lot of things. But in certain situations, it's more powerful to not have one with me – Julie SygielBut with luxury fashion in turmoil and profits plummeting, perhaps it is finally time to stop telling women what they need – and listening to it instead.As for high street and fast fashion, manufacturers want to make things as cheaply as possible – which often means no extra fabric or fiddly design extras (despite pockets being standard in men's clothing).Getty ImagesFrench designer Coco Chanel, wearing one of her own pocketed creations, poses in her Paris garden, 1929 (Credit: Getty Images)All this has led to some women taking things into their own hands. Julie Sygiel founded her clothing line The Pockets Project in 2021 after becoming frustrated by a lack of change in the industry. "I think my beef is that even in silhouettes that can easily accommodate pockets we don't get them or we get these tiny pockets," she tells the BBC. "There's so many women's outfits that could have big pockets. I finally realised if I wanted change to happen I was going to have to do it myself and create dresses that I wanted to wear with big pockets."Sygiel says once she became aware of the pocket disparity she couldn't stop noticing the ripple effects in her daily life. "Take the work environment for example," she says. "When you enter a conference room as a woman carrying a bag, it's almost as if you're a guest in that space. Whereas a man entering the room who's got all of the stuff in his pockets, he is very at ease. This is his domain. I love a good handbag. They help me carry a lot of things. But in certain situations, it's more powerful to not have one with me."Her business has proven popular, with many lines selling out and more designs and colours added – and many women sharing their pocket irritations with her. "One woman wrote to me and said that when she was getting married she asked the tailor to add pockets to her wedding jumpsuit and he said no because it wouldn't look 'proper'. I thought that was so wild."Getty ImagesThe fight for pocket equality has some way to go, though there has been some progress in recent years (Credit: Getty Images)Sygiel is optimistic that change in the air. "I feel like we're making progress. It's been a while since I've been shopping and saw a fake pocket."Dickinson is less sure, and thinks that Claire McCardell would be aghast that fashion still hadn't figured out a way to be both stylish and practical. "McCardell believed that she was building not just a system for making clothes but an industry that would forefront women's perspectives. I think she would be horrified today to see how few women are at the helm of most major brands."It seems the fight for pocket parity has some way to go. "Why is it so hard to get dressed still to this day as a woman in the world?" asks Dickinson. "The idea that a pocket still feels like an accessory and not a necessity, is shocking." Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free by Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson is published by Simon & Schuster--If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week.For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.FashionHistoryGenderFeatures
