Formal gowns should not have pockets.

All clothing should have pockets. Pockets with Kleenex in them. They should also have some sort of alarm that goes off when I start to wash them with the Kleenex still inside.

Don't get me wrong; I looooove pockets in skirts. Just not formal dresses/skirts. Because....they're *formal.*

Teppy and ita -- so beautiful, so brilliant, yet so completely wrong in the lack of pocket love.

so completely wrong in the lack of pocket love

Condemn me if you must, but accuracy requires you to cite my lack of pocket love.

I must admit to liking the pockets for the jaunty and the sassy (my brain does not share ita's semantic hairlines). It gives a different feel to the formal that I really like.

Okay, yes, I stand corrected. You don't not love the pocket, you merely wish to deny women in formalwear their God-given right to look jaunty and insouciant.

It is entirely my intent to flame this into a Buffista battle to stand alongside prescriptivist/descriptionist, Atkins, and the composition of chili.

I don't have a problem with pockets, as long as they're hands-only pockets. Actually, that goes for men too, since it's easy to ruin the line of a beautiful garment by hanging 5 lb. of credit cards inside it.

Armani jackets are usually pocket-free, to preserve the lines of them. In a formal ball gown, the real question would be how to have a flattering, close-to-body line dress that also leaves enough fabric for a hand to fit into a pocket.

Those of us who have worn too-tight trousers can say truthfully that the space for the hand has got to come from somewhere.

I don't like the pockets in gowns, because it takes away from the elegance of the line, especially when they stick their hands in the pockets. It almost crosses a "this belongs in the 80s" line for me. (No, don't ask me to explain, I can't. At least not right now.)

I may feel differently about pockets in sleeker gowns. I don't know. However, I don't have many pockets in my wardrobe, so I do not hold out hope.

you merely wish to deny women in formalwear their God-given right to look jaunty and insouciant.

Poor JZ. She only knows one way to look jaunty or insouciant in formalwear.

If you'd like I could arrange some lessons that include slinky insouciance.

I don't like the pockets in gowns, because it takes away from the elegance of the line

Could you tell either of those dresses had pockets by the silhouettes? Most ballgowns could happily store balloons in pockets without altering their lines. Putting a lipstick and a tampon case in them works just fine for me.