Claire McCardell: thanks for at least trying to give women's clothing pockets

Of all the corporate trainings I went through/endured during my corporate career, by far the best was a presentation skills class I took in the 1980's. I believe it was called the Mitlinger Method, and the inventor/instructor was Kim Mitlinger. 

I've gone to the Google, and I can find no trace of the Mitlinger Method, but this course was way back in the technology dark ages. It may even have been pre-PowerPoint.

Anyway, I came away with a number of tips which I used whenever I gave presentations. Which I did all the time. One was to rehearse out loud, in front a mirror, the night before, and go through every point you were trying to make. Take no shortcuts. Go through everything out loud. No, you're not going to give the presentation verbatim the next day. But you would have thought through every one of your points. And don't just do it in your head. In your head, you skip over things, telling yourself 'I've got this one.' No, you don't. Saying things out loud forces you to really think them through.

There were other tips on how to stand, etc., that were also useful. They video'd us for a before and after and I volunteered to go first. My posture was ridiculous: I was leaning backward, hands folded in front of my crotch. There was a name for it that I can't recall, but had something to do with "fig leaf." It looked terrible.

But the main takeaway from the Mitlinger Method course may have been to make sure that you have pockets in your skirts (or pants, although back then, us professional gals were wearing skirt suits, not pant suits). You needed a pocket in your skirt because standing with one hand in your pocket while using the other to gesture is an engaging and relaxed way to present. (It actually does work. A far better look than the "fig leaf.")

Anyway, at the time, I had a collection of very expensive wool menswear skirt suits. In my mind's eye, I can still picture some of the very beautiful fabrics of those suits. There was one medium blue with very faint teal and violet striping. (Sounds awful: it was gorgeous.) Another of my favorites was a very dark charcoal with a hot pink windowpane plaid. (Sounds awful: it was gorgeous.) These suits, by the way, were mostly worn with silk blouses with pussy bows, or with Brooks Brothers men's look-a-like shirts and floppy bow ties. (Sounds awful: it was.)

The suits were fabulous, however. Wore like iron. Traveled like a dream. For a while after they went out of style, I hung on. Sometimes I wore the skirts with sweaters, the jackets with pants. Sometimes even for non-work cas, I wore the jackets with jeans. (Now that was a look!) 

The suits are long gone, but after I took the Mitlinger Method Presentation Skills Class, I can guarantee you that every one of those pocketless menswear skirts had pockets in them. (My local tailor definitely cleaned up when I came in with an armful of skirts that needed doctoring.) 

But as anyone who wears women's clothing knows, pockets remain problematic.

Sometimes the pockets are mingy. I have a pair of Levis that I love, but you can just about get a piece of Kleenex into the front pocket. Forget about your phone or keys.

Sometimes the pockets are non-existent. My go-to pants suit (black; very nice) lacks pockets. As do all of my Eileen Fisher pants.

I haven't bothered to have pockets installed because I'm no longer out there giving presentations, so don't really need to put one hand in my pocket. And jackets generally do have some sort of pocket for putting something in, so there's that. 

But who decided that women don't need pockets? 

Apparently not "American fashion icon Claire McCardell."

I'd never heard of "American fashion icon Claire McCardell" until I read Kate Bolick's review of Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson’s eponymous biography of Clarie McCardell, “Claire McCardell."

As Bolick writes, "functional pockets are scarce in women’s clothing because they “ruin the silhouette,” or so I’d heard."

I'd heard that, too. Stuff and nonsense!

Nearly a century ago, McCardell (who died in the late 1950's, while in her early fifties) pretty much began inventing the concept of American sportswear:

Many of McCardell’s contributions to women’s ready-to-wear clothing remain in circulation — including ballet flats, leggings, hoodies and spaghetti straps. But vanishingly few of the designers who’ve come after embody her driving ethos: Women’s clothes can be practical, comfortable, stylish and affordable. And have pockets.

As Dickinson writes, “Stitching Claire McCardell’s name back onto the apparel she pioneered is not merely a history lesson in provenance; it is a vital and timely reminder of a designer, and a movement, that was always about far more than clothes.”

In McCardell’s own words: “Men are free of the clothes problem — why shouldn’t I follow their example?” (Source: NY Times)

Point of interest: she got Capezio to manufacture ballet flats during World War II in response to the leather shortage. Not much to those ballet flats. (I always liked the look. Who doesn't want to be Audrey Hepburn? But they never gave this flat-footed gal enough support.)

McCardell also pioneered the wrap dress - hers had a big old patch pocket on it. (Like Bolick, I would have credited Diane von Furstenberg with inventing the wrap dress back in the 1970s. Wish I still had my two von Furstenbergs. Wish I could still fit into my two von Furstenbergs. If I ever buy another dress, it will be a DVF. But I don't remember that they had pockets. I'm pretty sure they didn't.)

Anyway, it was interesting to "discover" Claire McCardell.

Thanks for the pockets, Claire. Wish more designers had listened to you.

Image Source: Living, Learning, Getting Older