Yesterday I wore my father's old leather jacket. It is made from smooth mushroom brown leather worn soft, and one of
the sleeves is chewed up at the end. Since the sleeves are too long, I
roll them up a couple of folds, and it's fine. When I found it in my father's closet,
it had some dried up apples and bread pieces in its right outside
pocket. When I put it on yesterday, I put my keys and a handkerchief in
that pocket, a small pad and a pen in the other. I put my mobile
phone in the smaller one of the left inside chest pockets, some papers I
needed to take in the larger of the left inside chest pockets, my
wallet in the larger right inside chest pocket, and I still had an inside pocket left over. That's a total of six pockets, and all of them have room enough to carry real stuff, and to retrieve it when needed without having to scrape one's knuckles in the process.
Men probably don't know this, but it is not so easy to find a woman's coat with more than two obligatory pockets barely large enough to stuff a glove into, unless one goes to a sporting goods store. I don't ski, but I bet that even when it comes to ski parkas, men get more pockets.
So . . .
Do most women not want pockets? Are they really more concerned that pockets will make them look bad (fat or lumpy maybe?). Is it just a decision on the part of designers? Is it a hold-over from when women didn't own stuff? Is there a good reason for this convention to persist?
