Why do people go on about pockets in dresses?

[Starryskiesinthesky]

I don’t get the love for this. You don’t out things in the pockets and you don’t stand / walk about with your hands in them so why do people love them?! Please enlighten me!

Men also don't feel the need to have a variety of clothing in case someone notices how often they wear a particular garment. Many who work in offices will have a couple of suits and five very similar looking shirts that they wear on rotation. At best, they'll have a few more ties than they strictly need.

I saw a thread the other day about dressing for the office and there were a few posters who said they 'only' had a few work dresses/outfits and were very apologetic about it as if what they were doing was unreasonable.

I like them in theory but rarely use them in real life. I find that whatever's in the pocket weighs that side of the dress down and I look lopsided. I also worry about my keys falling out.

Therefore I still mainly stick to carrying bags when I'm in a dress.

for anyone interested, you can easily add pockets (i said it before but I'm back wit a video)

If you want something more sturdy, you need to have the type of pocket/dress that are a bit deeper with the straight bit at the top that can be sewn into a waistband.

As for jackets - and men - if pockets are overstuffed, or are in a flimsy garment and you put something heavy or bulky in them, it looks awful, and as a sewist it makes me grit my teeth. Blazer style jackets? i unpick the sewn up pockets but only very tiny things go in: business cards, tissue, maybe a bank card.

The trend for men's suits to be with skinny form fitting trousers and a shorter jacket has led to lots of them walking around with overstuffed front pockets and it looks awful (to me). Agree they don't carry much stuff around, i carry more, obvs, if i have a bag (i really don't need to carry it all, but it has come in useful)

I couldn't down size to just pockets now. When I was younger I'd go out with just my purse, lipstick, keys and cigerttes (no phone) but now I need an overfilled purse (cards, cash, bonus cards etc) keys, small packet of wet wipes, tissues, plasters, lip balm, hand cream, alcohol gel, pen and phone. Also in my youth it was the late 90s so I'd wear denim skirts or jeans (not tight) and an addidas zip top or similar so I always had pockets but now I wear tight jeans and would look awful filled with such things, my dresses have flimsy pockets and I wouldn't want to leave the house without all my stuff. I carry a small cross body bag. I can barely feel it and its easy to just sling on.

This is me too
My favourite type of pocket is the big kangaroo pouch on a hoody.

I couldn't care less about pockets. I make a lot of my own clothes and never ever put pockets in them. Even making trousers I leave the pockets off. I put them into a wool coat but not jackets. Not bothered if I'm letting the suffragettes down really.

Because phones in trouser/jeans pockets are likely, sooner or later, to end up in the toilet.

If men have a load of crap stuffed into their trouser or jacket pockets, they also tend to look like a bag of rubbish tied in the middle. You do not see well dressed men with bulging pockets, or something heavy dragging one side down. They do get an inside pocket in a jacket that can take a flat wallet or phone, but they don’t have boobs so that’s why most tailored women’s jackets wouldn’t have one and I couldn’t use one. I wouldn’t put anything more than a tissue or bank card in a dress or trouser pocket because I don’t buy decent clothes in order to then look like a shapeless blob. Each to their own I guess.

This is so true. Especially when they are in the back pocket.

The only thing I stick in a pocket is a lipstick on a night out. I remove it from my handbag, pop it in a pocket and go to the toilet. Job done. Then back in the handbag. Some men fill their pockets to the brim and just look awful. Like a sack of shit.

A couple of tissues, lip balm, debit card - yay, no need to have a bag.

Gudrun Sjördén make a lot of tunics with big useful pockets, especially their linen tunics and dresses.

Pockets are great.

I never feel like things are secure in a dress or skirt pocket. Trousers/jeans are more rigid and closer to the body. I feel like things would just slip or flip out of dress pockets when I'm sitting and standing.

I like pockets, I like being able to put a couple of things in them without having to take my whole bag around the building when I’m not at my desk.

I only wear dreeses- almost all of my dresses have pockets.

I like them for keeping my reading glasses handy or my work mobile if I'm not at my desk.

Vapes!!!

Agreed. I like pockets for reading glasses, phone when away from my desk but pockets are nowhere near as secure as a cross body pocket bag.

Stuffing things into suit jacket or trouser pockets does spoil the line of a suit. My husband had to get a man bag as he needs to carry medication with him. It's been a revelation to him how much handier it is than stuffing things into pockets.

I always thought that it's a look thing - as in when I look at myself in the mirror I look so much better /thinner posing with hand or hands in pockets.

I hate pockets on dresses. I love a bag.

I think a properly constructed item of clothing can take pockets quite easily. I remember my mum making my clothes as a kid (70s/80s) from quality materials and always adding at least one pocket (for snails, pebbles and other treasures).

My daughter is the same. She gets very annoyed if she discovers a fake pocket, or insufficient jeans pocket. We are of the same opinion, sometimes we don't want to take a bag. Sometimes, we just want to take our Oyster card, debit card, keys and phone out with us. So sometimes we have to pay a bit more for a clothing item to fulfill the brief.

Pockets are absolutely a feminist issue. My husband is never lacking deep pockets. He's never had a pocket problem. (He does get holes in his pockets though). Whereas DD and I always have to check first.

Exactly what I was going to say.

If a dress doesn’t have pockets I errr over buying it.

same goes for aprons, can’t stand the ones without a pocket 🤣

“I'd wear/buy more dresses if they had pockets.”

I would also. I have a ‘house coat’ that I wear all day at home and it has two big pockets. It is soft and comfortable but definitely not a dressing gown. The pockets hold My glasses, a pen, my phone, asthma reliever etc. It leaves my hands free. I’m on the lookout for a similar ( but smarter) one to wear when I go out. It has to be light and cool because I live in a warm climate.

Because I object to carrying a dodging handbag around for my glasses and phone.

surely op, you can see that women are massively disadvantaged by a lack of pockets. You only have to stand at the ticket barriers at any station: men dip effortlessly into the inside breast pocket that they take for granted, women rootle around in a capacious bag.

What about dressing gowns without pockets?! An abomination to womankind! No man’s dressing gown would be pocketless

@Starryskiesinthesky , I like putting my hands in my pockets, I carry things in my pockets e.g. a tissue or my wallet and tampon when nipping to the loo at work.

You have made me want a house coat. Where did you get yours?

I don’t like the weighty feel of things in pockets, especially if not balanced, so even if I have them, I don’t tend to use them except for the odd tissue or Covid mask. I have a selection of cross body bags instead.