I was never a big clothes shopper, but have gotten less so as time has gone on. At this point, I have made a pact with myself not to buy more stuff just because it's new. What I will do is buy an item to replace what I have when it needs replacing, or when I find I need something I don't have. It might be socks or a blue shirt that has hit more than its half-life, or maybe a packable rain jacket for travel. But I have a big enough assortment of the basics to see me through this, and indeed several lifetimes, even if you might have seen that sweater before.
So when my go-to casual pants got holes in them, it was time to swap them out. I looked around, but they seemed to have been discontinued, not surprising since they were a good 10 years old. But in the process of returning something to Amazon at a big-box store drop-off I saw them on rack, and even better, on sale. There were limited colors and sizes, but I dug through and found 2 winners. Likewise, as the weather got warmer and I pulled out my summer shorts, I found my favs had seen better days. I poked around online, and eventually settled on an updated version of my preferred brand and style. As before, I ordered substitute pairs, culled the old offenders from my closet, and updated my wardrobe. In my world, this is what passes for haute couture.
In both cases the replacements were exactly what I wanted: basically, what I already had. To be sure, they were slightly updated with a little different stitching in one case, and an updated fabric in another. But in both instances there was one structural change that was hard to ignore: they changed the pockets.
For a guy (at least this one), pockets are as important as the underlying outfit, maybe even more so. I will stipulate, for purposes of this discussion, that women have a whole different set of issues in this area. For years they have been discriminated against with fake pockets, shallower pockets or even no pockets. But they have purses, so that skews the discussion. Still, when an individual of either sex wants to leave the house with a minimum of extra, well, baggage, pockets are as critical as the garments themselves.
While pockets have been a normal part of clothing since the 1600's, they have certainly morphed and changed over time. Keys have gotten smaller, watches have moved to the wrist and not a lot of folks need to carry tins of snuff anymore. On the other hand, we do need a place to put Tic-Tacs, credit cards and key fobs. But if there's one item which had forced a reengineering in pocket expectations (if not technology itself), it's that which has remade all of our world: the cell phone.
Most would no sooner leave their house without pants than they would their phone. Indeed, you can leave much of the other stuff behind, as in many cases phones have replaced money and access devices. But unless you want to tie up your hands or clip it to your belt, you have to slide that candy bar somewhere. And some designers have acknowledged that challenge, making at least one receptacle deeper, or even inventing a new holder to ferry your device. Indeed, I found a phone pocket in both my new pants and shorts, an addition so handy that I might never buy another pair without one. On the other side of the coin, other pockets got shallower (sides on the pants, rear on the shorts). But sometimes you gotta give to get, so I am committed to roll with the punches.
In college some friends made a short film about a future phone that was implanted in a person, so nothing to carry. Tap your left temple to answer, your right to hang up. Had they patented that idea and been able to bring it to fruition, they would be worth billions. Someone eventually will, and on that day, pockets will become obsolete. But until then, you'll have to pry mine from my cold, dead hands. Unless my hands are already in my pockets. And in that case, never mind.
-END-
Marc Wollin of Bedford likes to have places to put things. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
No comments:
Post a Comment