Tie-on pockets and reticules: two ways women carried their belongings
Culture & Life / Material histories Pockets, tied into place An opening. A tie. A private space. Reading the storage women wore. NEWJINMEDIA NOVEMBER 4, 2026 OBJECT-BASED REPORTING Pocket, American, about 1784. Cotton and wool. The Met, 2009.300.2241. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Public Domain. Object record · CC0 Tie-on pockets and small handbags coexisted. Ten museum objects show different answers to carrying, reaching and displaying possessions. A pocket does not have to belong to a garment. In the eighteenth century, many women wore separate textile containers tied around the waist, with access through openings in the clothing above them. The arrangement separated storage from the dress itself. A decorated surface that looks like a miniature wall hanging in a museum photograph could once have spent much of its working life out of sight. Conversely, a small bag carried in the hand could advertise its materials and workmanship while providing relatively little room. Loo...