Making a fashion editor in the front row smile is simpler than sending Naomi Campbell tumbling down the runway in Vivienne Westwood platform heels . Squeals of delight emerge the moment a model eases her hands into the concealed pockets of a dress or skirt. That delight spread to last month’s haute couture collections from Chanel, Elie Saab and Armani Privé and has trickled through social media, with the hashtag #ithaspockets, where women share images of their favourite clothing feature.
“That squeal! It happens every time I have a dress with pockets at Australian Fashion Week or show a bride a wedding dress with pockets,” says Sydney designer Mariam Seddiq . “I don’t know why, but pockets offer infectious joy.” When fashion writer and singer Glynis Traill-Nash wore a frothy pink dress by Seddiq for her show In These Shoes at the Perth International Cabaret Festival last month, concealed pockets designed to hide a kazoo became a vivid object of audience adoration.
“When I asked the audience if they could guess the best thing about the dress, someone yelled out ‘pockets’ before I could make my big reveal, sending a roar of approval among the women,” Traill-Nash says. “It’s because we have all been so slip-deprived. Women have lacked the same availability to slip their hands into a pocket that men have at their disposable.
We need pocket parity.” Research by The Pudding in 2018 shows that pocket inequality also exists in denim, with only 10 per cent .
