Join costume designer Diane Johnston from Humanities Washington as she presents And It Has Pockets! The Battle for Women’s Clothing Equality, from 10 a.m-noon Saturday, Feb. 10 at Edmonds College, Snohomish Hall, Room 338.

Johnston will trace the history of the humble pocket to determine if the battle for equality is linked to a few inches of extremely influential fabric, according to a news release.

Clean, lightly used clothing will also be accepted for donation to the Professional Clothing Closet at WSU/Everett for use by students doing interviews for jobs and internship opportunities.

Comparisons have shown that modern garments designed for women have about half the storage space of clothing designed for men, according to humanities.org (www.humanities.org/speaker/diane-johnston/).

“From their invention, pockets in women’s fashion have represented independence — so much so that in the 18th century, laws were enacted to strip women of their personal liberty by making the contents of their pockets the property of their husband,” according to humanities.org. “The right to have pockets went hand-in-hand with the right to vote. And people today are still speaking out about the inequality between men’s and women’s clothing based on this simple storage system.”

Johnston is a theatrical costume designer who has spent the past 33 years creating costumes for productions throughout the region. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Costume Design and is a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. She teaches Theater at Snohomish High School.