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Pockets of Power: A Look into Women's Pockets and Agency in the 17th to 19th Century
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- Author(s) / Creator(s)
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The topic of women's pockets often go overlooked, in this paper I will focus on pockets from 1600-1800 in Britain. I will consider the importance of pockets in women's dress and the question of ‘what relationships did women have with their clothing?’ This will include the origin and history of tie-on pockets in women's garments. I’ll delve deeper into the representation and symbolism that these pockets had and how it contributed to class and social rank. What they were used for, how they were decorated, the care put into these pockets by the women who wore these accessories. I will also consider the importance of the decor and care and what this item might have meant for the women of the time. This study will cover the making, wearing and collecting of different pieces. The study will also be extended to accessories, such as gloves and other smaller pieces. I will contrast these garments to middle-class and elite men and their styles of dress, including the gender differences, one of the main ones being that men's clothing did not need pockets tied onto them. Rather, gentlemen’s garments were tailored with many pockets, and this raises questions. What did something like this mean in a societal context? Objects also played an important role, acting as a tie to the material world, individualizing us and becoming extensions of ourselves. This research will reveal all the ways pockets served as important objects in changing the lives of women.
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- Date created
- 2023-12-20
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- Subjects / Keywords
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- Type of Item
- Research Material