At the Yorkville outpost of Betsey Johnson where dresses run the gamut from sweet sixteen sateen to ruffles and racy ruching, one detail inevitably elicits a positive response from shoppers and sales associates alike: pockets.
“I think it's the best trend ever and it should never go away,” gushes assistant sales manager Jodi McLennan. She pulls out a substantial selection of frocks, invisible side pockets being the sole similarity. “Usually you don't notice. You don't think to put your hands in the side seams like that.”
But with voluminous, flouncy silhouettes being the favoured look of the season, pockets have rocketed to the top of features that are considered both fun and functional.
“It's got an easy, slouchy, relaxed feel to it and I think that's about attitude,” says Holt Renfrew's vice-president, fashion direction, Barbara Atkin. “I think people are using those pockets because they're meant to be used. You can see they're actually part of the design, even if they're hidden.”
Cameron Diaz gives good pocket in pink Chanel on the red carpet for Shrek the Third. (MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS)
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And while invisible pockets may be especially in vogue among current collections (from more formal Alberta Ferretti and Oscar de la Renta to all-purpose Diane von Furstenberg and easy jersey line Splendid), they are joined by patch pockets, cargo pockets. On the mass market, Maggy London offers lots of pocket dresses at Laura and the Bay.
Canadian designer Wayne Clark says he has been inserting pockets into the folds of his dresses for as long as he can remember (he'll admit to 30 years). “It is the biggest selling thing when you're showing a buyer,” he says, recounting a recent meeting with representatives from Saks Fifth Avenue. “All of a sudden you're holding up the dress and you tell the model, ‘Put your hands in the pockets,' and it's a done deal.”
Clark attributes their resurgence to a reaction against body-skimming dresses (circa Tom Ford, Azzedine Alaia), the result being that there's finally enough material to add an extra pouch of fabric without any change to the dress's natural shape.
Others would argue that the most defining moment for pocket popularity was the Oscar red carpet in 2006 when two nominees Sandra Bullock and Amy Adams (in Angel Sanchez and Carolina Herrera, respectively) wore pouffy cocktail dresses with hidden pockets that precluded them from fidgeting during their interviews.
Then, at the Academy Awards this past February, Jennifer Hudson made no apologies for tucking her hands safely into her metallic bronze Oscar de la Renta gown.
This body language does not earn gold stars from internationally renowned image consultant Gloria Starr.
“A beautiful, elegant woman doesn't stuff her hands in her pockets,” says Starr, who just returned from Saudi Arabia where she had been retained by the royal family. She much prefers the left arm to be relaxed at one's side with the right hand placed near the hip easy to extend for handshakes.
Starr actually prefers people slouching to relying on their pockets. What's more, she will sew hers up so that she's not tempted to use them.
To the extent that pocket posing is promulgated by actresses and models (think fashion shoots and runway walks), Starr says in earnest: “People who are able to buy these beautiful gowns should have the power to influence millions of people. If they would learn how to look their very best and not put their hands in their pockets, they could start a trend that would raise the perception of value in all of us.”
Though Clark says his motivation for pockets is about projecting easy breezy confidence rather than replacing a purse, he feels women appreciate having a place to stash small necessities.
“I make them deep enough so it's got that whole attitude but you should also be able to keep a subway token,” he says.
Doesn't a woman who makes the effort to get so fashionably dressed have a more glamorous method of transportation? Answers Clark, “A girl never knows when she needs to find her own way home.”
