Pockets fill the gap between the inside of our protective garments and the outside of our self-conscious appearances. Pockets embody the emptiness of the great divide between ourselves and our surroundings.
Nothing quite fits emptiness nearly as well as absence.
All of which is why lately we find ourselves surrounded by so many pockets, awash in their vacancy, and laboring to accommodate this proliferation of nothing. The return of the pocket is inseparable from the current cargo pant renaissance. The selfsame army pants of the punk rock 80s are suddenly a bold and fresh new fashion statement with everyone from LL Bean to Chanel offering up some inscrutable twist on the classic military uniform. The one thing these diverse designer ensembles have in common is a shared abuse of the externally visible so-called cargo pocket. As they cut across all social strata to oversaturate our culture, these countless pockets carry along a strange silent message.