A Ramble About Pockets

One of my most favourite pieces of clothing that I own is a long-sleeved black top with white stars on it. I have no idea where this top came from, but I’ve owned it for several years now. The nicest thing about this top though? It has pockets. A pocket on each side, not always noticeable. Sure, those pockets aren’t the deepest, nor do they have a way of being sealed. But when it comes to putting something temporarily in said pockets, it’s so nice that my starry top can help.

Unfortunately though, the rest of my wardrobe mostly lacks pockets. And if they do have pockets, they’re often not very good. Some items of clothing are actually pretty mean to my pocket desires. Why? Because there are two zips on these trousers, but the pockets are completely fake. Like, why did they even bother with adding the zips? The zips themselves are really basic as well. I’ve been tempted to cut some fabric and turn the fake pockets into real pockets, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

A part of this is wanting to make one’s sides and thighs more flat and following the natural human curve of a woman’s leg. Adding a pocket there does seem to spoil the aesthetic. But that doesn’t mean that the vast majority of clothes should have no pockets at all. I’d rather have pockets by default and buy skinny clothing as I want it, not the other way around.

I just want decent pockets 🙁

Even when I do find pockets in women’s clothes, the pockets aren’t guaranteed to be any good.

Thing is, if I had pockets in everything, I’d still be using a handbag. After all, I have a lot of stuff to carry. While my brother can head out with keys, his wallet and phone, I find myself carrying a lot more. Pockets on women’s clothes are still pretty small anyway, so I have to carry a handbag. It’s not just keys, wallet , phone for me. There’s extra stuff I need to carry like glucose for low blood sugar, sanitary pads for monthlies and, if I’m planning on eating out, my two insulin pens. What makes a pocket good is easy accessibility, and the ability to hold often-accessed things like your phone. While phones have gotten bigger over the years, I still end up keeping my phone in my handbag, for fear that a phone would fall out of my flimsy pockets.

To be honest, my handbag is basically a black hole. Like a bag of holding except getting your stuff back is tedious as heck. I’d much rather put, for example, my phone in a pocket for easy access than put it in my black handbag, because then I have to spend ages rummaging though said bag, trying to find my phone again.

At the end of the day though, most clothing for women lacks pockets. Or, rather, most clothes have either fake pockets or very thin ones that can’t carry much. While I could make my own pockets if I wanted to, it’s not… difficult, but I don’t want to risk making a mistake and ruining whatever clothing I have. Plus I’d need to find fabric in a somewhat matching colour so my pockets wouldn’t look weird.