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