I recently purchased “The Debbie Dress” from SCOTTeVEST, a US company selling dresses with a seemingly unreasonable amount of pockets. 7 in fact, which seemed too good to be true.
When it arrived I wasn’t hugely blown away by it. The fabric is cotton spandex, just a little bit too closely resembling a pair of supermarket sweatpants I have still from university to make it feel worth the money I paid. The style is a bit aging on me and I am quite short so it does swamp me a little, but there is a waistband that gives me some shape (with a zipped pocket in the back for cards). Overall, it didn’t make me feel amazing wearing it, just simply OK. I wear a dress everyday to work and I knew this one would not be joining the work dress team any time soon.
Turns out, dress wearing friends, this is not a work dress – this dress is for airports.
I was bitten by the travel bug this year. Facing uncertainty over opportunities to travel after Brexit and working at a travel company, where I am being constantly bombarded with travel imagery and cheap flights, I went a bit mad and booked a bunch of mini breaks. Like – 7 in total. After a summer of adventures, let me tell you how this dress comes into its own.
So – adventure time – it’s 3am we are ready to go. I have the three things you absolutely need to travel – passport, card and phone. I tap my right pocket, phone is there. Left pocket is actually two pockets next to each other. Passport goes in the back one, card goes in the velcro fastened card section inside of the front one. That’s right – the pockets have pockets.
These pockets are so deep, if I touch the bottom with my middle finger it’s still deep enough to cover a watch on my wrist. I am confident my things are at least as secure as they would be in my partner’s jeans pockets.
Normally we take an Uber then a coach. I can sit comfortably the whole time with these in my pockets and not really notice – except the occasional “phone, passport, card” patting of my pockets.
When you arrive the the airport, we have security, where the dress really has my back.
While I am waiting in the queue, I take my kindle, battery charger ( a large Anker one too) and put them … in my pocket. So my hands aren’t too full with the liquids bag while I am waiting. When it gets to my turn I just empty my pockets into the tray and walk straight through. We do not mess around now we have pockets like a tardis. I am certain this is the least important use case for this too – parents, medical device carriers,
There is a snag to all this – very occasionally on the 3d body scanners I get an extra pat down because of the amount of fabric where the pockets are. I know this because a) I have asked the security staff why and they told me and b) my partner noticed it on the monitors and now we look out for it. It’s not ideal but it’s not every time. Its a decent trade off for now because the deep pockets with phone space make the rest of the journey a breeze.
Airport shopping isn’t a faff because my phone is right there. Boarding is so easy because I have my phone and passport right there. I can put my phone and passport back in my pockets so I don’t worry about dropping it on the walk between the gate and the plane (I totally worry about this). This may not sound super exciting if you wear clothes that have big pockets, but this is such a novelty if you don’t.
So we land in some exciting city destination (served by Ryanair) and my dress has a secret surprise – the zipped pockets. There are two – one on the waistband and one on the lower left side. Into these go my card and backup card – one each. What’s the point though? Well, as much as I am as likely to get pickpocketed or robbed in London where I live, it would be horrendously more inconvenient to be on the way to the hotel from the airport (or vice versa). So, in they go. I figure I would probably get to keep one of my cards at least.
From my door to hotel room door this dress has my back – and the cotton fabric means you can easily wear it again for the journey home.
Other useful things I can easily fit in the pockets of this amazing garment for short term holding:
– water bottles
– spare change – in one of the two secret velcro pockets inside the pockets
– a subway sandwich
– an umbrella
So – if you like secret card holders and not getting caught in the rain, this may be a wise investment for you. I personally couldn’t care less if it isn’t the best looking dress, because at 5am when I am carrying a sandwich in my pocket navigating an airport, it’s the only one you will find me wearing.
You can find “The Debbie Dress” here – be aware, you will end up paying customs tax on it too in the UK.
Dresses With Pockets 