Please join the Bertha Harris Women’s Center for an informative and fun stitching workshop on Wednesday, April 2 in Building 2N, Room 206 at 2:30pm, “Pockets of Independence,” a continuation of our Stitches to Hold the World Together series. You will learn about the history of women’s pockets and why almost no women’s clothing today includes pockets.
In 1954, creator of the New Look designer Christian Dior quipped, “Men have pockets to keep things in, women for decoration.” Yet American feminist economist and novelist Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote in 1905 that men’s supremacy over women came from the fact that men’s clothing had pockets while women’s rarely did. Gilman attributed this discrepancy to a conscious design to keep women down, as an 1899 critic of the women’s Rational Dress movement wrote in the New York Times that “No pocketless people have ever been great since pockets were invented, and the female sex cannot rival us while it is pocketless.”
Without pockets, women are not supposed to be able to carry money or rebellious pamphlets or tools or other signs of their independence. Bring along something you love to wear that NEEDS pockets! We will venture into pocket-making territory as we alter clothing to empower us as its wearers. We can also play with making medieval-style external pockets that later became reticules and handbags. Supplies provided; all levels welcome. What will you carry in YOUR pocket?
CC CLUE credit is available.
By the Bertha Harris Women’s Center
