1Good morning.
2Now, we've been asked to choose an aspect of European clothing or fashion
3and to talk about its development over time.
4I decided to focus on a rather small area of clothing and that's pockets.
5I chose pockets for two reasons, really.
6We all have them - in jeans, jackets, coats, for example -
7and even though we often carry bags or briefcases as well,
8nothing is quite as convenient as being able to pop your phone or credit card into your pocket.
9Yet, I suspect that, other than that, people don't really think about pockets too much
10and they're rather overlooked as a fashion item.
11It's certainly very interesting to go back in time
12and see how pockets developed for men and women.
13In the 18th century,
14fashions were quite different from the way they are now,
15and pockets were too.
16If we think about male fashion first...
17that was the time when suits became popular.
18Trousers were knee-length only and referred to as 'breeches',
19the waistcoats were short and the jackets were long,
20but all three garments were lined with material
21and pockets were sewn into this cloth by whichever tailor the customer used.
22The wearer could then carry small objects such as pencils or coins on their person
23and reach them through a gap in the lining.
24Coat pockets became increasingly decorative on the outside for men who wanted to look stylish,
25but they were often larger but plainer
26if the wearer was someone with a profession who needed to carry medical instruments -
27a doctor or physician, for example.
28The development of women's pockets was a little different.
29For one thing, they weren't nearly as visible or as easy to reach as men's.
30In the 18th and 19th centuries,
31women carried numerous possessions on their person
32and some of these could be worth a lot of money.
33Women were more vulnerable to theft and wealthy women, in particular, worried constantly about pickpockets.
34So, what they did was to have a pair of pockets made that were tied together with string.
35The pockets were made of fabric,
36which might be recycled cloth if the wearer had little money
37or something more expensive, such as linen,
38sometimes featuring very delicate embroidery.
39Women tied the pockets around their waist so that they hung beneath their clothes.
40Remember, skirts were long then
41and there was plenty of room to hide a whole range of small possessions between the layers of petticoats that were commonly worn.
42They would have an opening in the folds of their skirts,
43through which they could reach whatever they needed, like their perfume.
44Working women, of course, also needed to carry around items that they might use for whatever job or trade they were involved in,
45but their pairs of pockets still remained on the inside of their clothing,
46they just got bigger or longer,
47sometimes reaching down to their knees!
48So, the tie on pockets went well into the 19th century
49and only changed when fashion altered towards the end of that period.
50That's when dresses became tighter and less bulky,
51and the pairs of pockets became very noticeable.
52They stood out too much and detracted from the woman's image.
53Women who had been used to carrying around a range of personal possessions - and still wanted to -
54needed somewhere to carry these items about their person.
55That was when small bags, or pouches as they were known, came into fashion
56and, of course, they inevitably led on to the handbag of more modern times,
57particularly when fashion removed pockets altogether.