pocket

{{About||the digital application and service|Pocket (service)|other uses}}

File:Jeans pocket back.jpging and bar tacking on the back of a pair of blue jeans.]]

A pocket is a bag- or envelope-like receptacle either fastened to or inserted in an article of clothing to hold small items. Pockets are also attached to luggage, backpacks, and similar items. In older usage, a pocket was a separate small bag or pouch.

Origins

File:Tacuinum Sanitatis-threshing.jpg in a Tacuinum Sanitatis]]

File:Woman's Pockets LACMA M.59.21.1a-b.jpg

Ancient people used leather or cloth pouches to hold valuables.{{cite web |url= http://www.randomhistory.com/2008/10/01_handbag.html |title= A History of Handbags |website= Random History |access-date= April 23, 2016 }} Ötzi (also called the "Iceman"), who lived around 3,300 BCE, had a belt with a pouch sewn to it that contained a cache of useful items: a scraper, drill, flint flake, bone awl, and a dried tinder fungus.{{cite web|url=http://www.iceman.it/en/node/275 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090311083938/http://www.iceman.it/en/node/275 |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 11, 2009 |title=The Belt and Pouch |publisher=South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology |access-date=April 23, 2016 }}

In European clothing, fitchets, resembling modern day pockets, appeared in the 13th century. Vertical slits were cut in the super tunic, which did not have any side openings, to allow access to purse or keys slung from the girdle of the tunic.{{Cite book | last=Cunnington | first=C. Willett | author-link=Cecil Willett Cunnington | last2=Cunnington | first2=Phillis | author-link2=Phillis Emily Cunnington | year=1969 | title=Handbook of English Medieval Costume | publisher=Plays Inc}} According to historian Rebecca Unsworth, it was in the late 15th century that pockets became more noticeable.{{Cite journal|last=Unsworth|first=Rebecca|date=2017-09-01|title=Hands Deep in History: Pockets in Men and Women's Dress in Western Europe, c. 1480–1630|url=http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/cost.2017.0022|journal=Costume|volume=51|issue=2|pages=148–170|doi=10.3366/cost.2017.0022|issn=0590-8876|doi-access=free}} During the 16th century, pockets increased in popularity and prevalence.

In slightly later European clothing, pockets began by being hung like purses from a belt, which could be concealed beneath a coat or jerkin to discourage pickpocketing and reached through a slit in the outer garment.

In the 17th century, pockets began to be sewn into men's clothing, but not women's, which continued to be tied on and hidden under the large skirts popular at the time.{{cite news|title=The Sexist, Political History of Pockets|url=https://www.racked.com/2016/9/19/12865560/politics-of-pockets-suffragettes-women|access-date=15 March 2018|work=Racked|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313162205/https://www.racked.com/2016/9/19/12865560/politics-of-pockets-suffragettes-women|archive-date=13 March 2018|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|last=Victoria and Albert Museum|first=Online Museum|date=2012-09-17|title=Wearing Pockets|url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/history-of-pockets/|access-date=2021-01-25|website=www.vam.ac.uk}}

The word appears in Middle English as pocket, and is taken from a Norman diminutive of Old French poke, pouque, modern poche, cf. pouch. The form "poke" is now only used in dialect, or in such proverbial sayings as "a pig in a poke".

Historically, the term "pocket" referred to a pouch worn around the waist by women in the 17th to 19th centuries, mentioned in the rhyme Lucy Locket.{{cite web|url=http://www.spnea.org/NEHM/NEWWSpringPage04.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010629132558/http://spnea.org/NEHM/NEWWSpringPage04.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2001-06-29 |title=Historic New England: Defining the Past. Shaping the Future |publisher=Spnea.org |access-date=2009-08-20 }} In these pockets, women would carry items needed in their daily lives, such as scissors, pins and needles, and keys.{{Cite book|last=Weissman, Judith Reiter.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/29315818|title=Labors of love : America's textiles and needlework, 1650-1930|date=1994|publisher=Wings Books|others=Lavitt, Wendy.|isbn=0-517-10136-X|location=New York|oclc=29315818}}{{Rp|113}}

In more modern clothing, while men's clothes generally have pockets, those designed to be worn by women often do not - and sometimes have what are called Potemkin pockets (from Potemkin village), a fake slit sewn shut. If there are pockets they are often much smaller than in men's clothes. Journalists at the Pudding found less than half of women’s front pockets could fit a thin wallet, let alone a phone and keys.{{cite news |title=Women are big losers in the politics of pockets |url=https://www.ft.com/content/58904cf6-198b-4a70-abee-c2c821a4b318 |access-date=10 November 2022 |publisher=Financial Times |date=6 November 2022}}

Types

A watch pocket or fob pocket is a small pocket designed to hold a pocket watch, sometimes found in men's trousers and waistcoats and in traditional blue jeans.{{cite web|title=Those Oft-Forgotten Pant Parts|url=http://www.levistrauss.com/unzipped-blog/2014/04/those-oft-forgotten-pant-parts/|author=Levi Strauss & Co. Unzipped Team|date=17 April 2014|access-date=2015-11-03}} However, due to the decline in popularity of pocket watches, these pockets are rarely used for their original intended purpose.

A besom pocket or slit pocket is a pocket cut into a garment instead of being sewn on. These pockets often have reinforced piping along the slit of the pocket, appearing perhaps as an extra piece of fabric or stitching. Besom pockets are found on a tuxedo jacket or trousers and may be accented with a flap or button closure.

Camp pockets or cargo pockets are pockets which have been sewn to the outside of the garment. They are usually squared off and are characterized by seaming.{{cite web | url=http://www.textileglossary.com/terms/camp-pockets.html | title=What is "Camp Pockets" - Definition & Explanation | access-date=December 1, 2011}}{{cite web | url=http://www.dressking.com/search/glossary.htm | title=Glossary of fashion design terminology at Dress King | access-date=December 1, 2011}}

A beer pocket is a small pocket within a jacket or vest sized specifically for transporting a bottle of beer. It came into fashion in the 1910s in select areas of the American midwest, prior to Prohibition, after which it faded into relative obscurity before experiencing minor revivals in the 1980s and early 2000s.

=Examples of pocket designs=

In some of the following illustrations, a folded blue handkerchief is included for illustration purposes:

File:Patch pocket.png|Patch pocket with pocket square

File:Patch pocket topstitching.png|Patch pocket with topstitching

File:J patch pocket.png|J patch pocket

File:Flap pocket.png|Flap pocket

File:Buttoned flap box pleat pocket.png|Buttoned-flap patch pocket with box pleat

File:Side seam pocket.png|Sideseam pocket

File:Smile pocket with piping.png|"Smile" slit pocket with piping and arrowhead reinforcements, typical of Western wear

File:Bound pocket.png|Double-jetted pocket

File:Stand pocket.png|Stand or single-welt pocket

File:Hosentaschen vorne 02.svg|Slant-front or slash pocketshttps://www.heddels.com/2019/06/types-pockets-pocket-dictionary/

File:Hosentaschen vorne 01.svg|Curved inset pockets, with a coin or watch pocket on right front pockethttps://www.heddels.com/2019/06/types-pockets-pocket-dictionary/

File:EighteenthCenturyPocketsSwaledaleMuseumReethEngland.jpg|18th century-style hanging pockets

File:Tailored flap pocket with labels.JPG|Parts of a tailored pocket

References

External links

[https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A798159 BBC - h2g2 - A Very Brief History of the Pocket]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110819202953/http://larsdatter.com/18c/pockets.html 18th Century Women's Pockets]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110615180925/http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/p/pockets/ Pockets at the V&A]
[http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/history-of-pockets/ A History of Pockets, Victoria and Albert Museum]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20100918132003/http://www.vads.ahds.ac.uk/collections/POCKETS.html Pockets of History]

Category:Parts of clothing