A client in Denver told me all pockets ruin a dress line

I was fitting a custom dress last month, and she pointed to the side seam pockets I'd put in. She said, 'Those have to go, Claire. A real dress should never have a place for your hands.' I argued that pockets are useful and lots of women want them, but she was firm. She said it always adds bulk and breaks the shape. I kept the pockets in, but her comment stuck with me. Do other designers feel pressure to leave out useful details for a 'cleaner' look?

3 comments

3 Comments

karenthompson2mo ago

Was she buying a dress or a sculpture? I had a stylist tell me to take the pockets out of a linen skirt sample. Said it made the hips look messy. I kept them in too, but the sample got "lost" before the shoot. Happens all the time. They kill useful stuff for a photo no real person lives in.

viola_cooper621mo ago

But what if the photo is the whole point? Those pictures sell the dream that makes people want the clothes later. Maybe @owens.matthew would walk, but most folks just see the final ad. A messy hip line in a photo can make a nice skirt look cheap. They're not selling you the sample, they're selling an idea. Sometimes you have to lose the pockets to make the shape look perfect and get people to stop and look.

owens.matthew2mo ago

Told them I'd walk if they touched the pockets.