Pockets Pop Up on Fancy Gowns

The humble pocket is increasingly finding a place on high-end dresses, skirts and evening gowns—but whether you dare to put anything in one is up to you.

Pockets are appearing on the frocks of young designers like Joseph Altuzarra, as well as fashion elder statesman Oscar de la Renta. Pockets even appeared on haute couture clothing at the Christian Dior show in July.

These pockets tend to be fashionable, not functional, inserted more to give the garments a nonchalant look than to hold a pair of keys. But in the age of black-tie selfies, many designers insist a woman could squeeze a lipstick or a smartphone in there.

Some of today's pockets are as small as discreet slits, while others, like a single oversize pocket on a high-waisted skirt at Dior's resort show, held in Brooklyn, N.Y., in May, are more conspicuous. Models in that Dior show coolly walked down the runway with hands in pockets.

The look has already walked from runway to red carpet. Actress January Jones of "Mad Men" posed for the paparazzi at the Emmy Awards Monday with her hands in the pockets of her red strapless Prabal Gurung gown.

"Our pockets are designed to complement the silhouette, the flare lending a jaunty attitude to the overall look," Mr. Gurung says.

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In addition to giving a look an unexpected twist, the appearance of pockets on four-figure-and-up dresses makes the gowns less pretentious and more approachable—even a little slouchy-casual, designers say. Pockets can give a woman in a fancy dress a breezy, nonchalant attitude.

"I like my designs to have a relaxed elegance, and pockets add an element of playfulness to a cocktail or evening dress, making it not look so serious," says designer Monique Lhuillier. "I also like a place to put my hands."

The embrace of pockets comes as designers increasingly upend tradition and break formal dressing rules, injecting cocktail dresses and evening gowns with a casual air or proposing fancy jumpsuits, abbreviated evening gowns and tuxedo jackets worn as dresses.

"I've always thought there's something chic about a woman with her hands in her pockets, particularly if she's in something incongruous like an evening gown," says designer Erdem Moralio?lu of the London-based label Erdem. Hands in the pockets of an evening gown are a "nice juxtaposition," he says, adding that a woman could slip a mobile phone or lipstick into the pockets of some of his dresses.

Pockets have their haters, though. A pocket can add volume to the hips—an area many women are already sensitive about—and disrupt a clean line with bulk and bulges. Putting things in those pockets can add bulk and distort the shape of the garment.

As a result, many women dislike them, including many clients of Betty Halbreich, a personal shopper at Bergdorf Goodman for nearly 40 years. A number of clients request that she take pockets out of dresses and sew up the sides "because they think [pockets] will make them bigger," she says. "I remove them more often than not."

If a woman is going to go with a skirt or dress that has a pocket, Ms. Halbreich would advise one with a slit pocket on an angle with no flap. "That would be the most forgiving," she says. "A real human being has got a hip or also a backside, which, when there's a pocket, it broadens her."

Ms. Halbreich, whose memoir, "I'll Drink to That: A Life In Style, With A Twist," will be published next week, says clients have been more receptive to pockets on skirts than on dresses and gowns. But whether it is a skirt, dress or ball gown, "if a woman wants to look extremely thin, she's not going to want pockets, and she certainly isn't going to put anything in them," Ms. Halbreich says.

Mr. Gurung says that a chain stitch is sewn into the pockets of his dresses "to ensure it stays in place, keeping it as discreet as possible." As for the bulk issue, he advises that it might be best "not to put too much in one's pocket."

A Pocket for Smelling Salts

One form of the pocket began in the 18th century as something akin to a small bag, worn over a petticoat but under the outside of the skirt, says Chloe Chapin, an assistant professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology. They were embroidered and shaped like an oar, wide at the bottom and tapered at the top, with a slit that allowed women to reach things like a handkerchief, letters, smelling salts or a needle and thread.

At the turn of the 19th century, after the French Revolution, fashions shifted away from silk and velvet to a neoclassical style that emphasized simpler, clingier styles made of light fabrics such as soft cotton. "The lighter-weight fabrics wouldn't have supported the weight of the items inside pockets," she says.

Pockets were gradually added back to garments starting in the 1820s, once skirts got wider and fabrics weren't as delicate, but they continued to go in and out of style, depending on the fabrics in vogue and the cultural mood of the time. In the 20th century, during both world wars, "both heavier fabrics and more obvious patch pockets were in vogue," Ms. Chapin says. "Whether this was due to practical necessity of the times or just a fashion influence from military uniforms is anybody's guess, and probably a combination of the two." Pockets haven't generally adorned ball gowns or evening dresses.

Designers are well aware of the concerns women have about how their figure might look with pockets in the picture.

No Pockets on Sleek Shapes

Ms. Lhuillier says she prefers "to place pockets on a more voluminous silhouette. I stay away from using them on sleek, slim silhouettes." She also tries to conceal pockets in the seams of the dresses so they are more body-skimming and flattering.

Mr. Moralio?lu says the pocket has to be made in proportion with the rest of the dress so that it won't accentuate the hips. The designer says he often makes pockets with a material that is lighter than the dress, like organza. It helps the pocket to lie flat when there's nothing in there, he explains. "When you are not using a pocket, you should be unaware that it's there."

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