What could be more charming than an exhibition about pockets? Pockets to Purses: Fashion + Function, created and installed by students in the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Fashion and Textile Studies Master of Arts program, traces the coevolution of these two objects through historical imagery and examples dating back to the 18th century.

While there is certainly charm, much of the show is devoted to the age-old connections between fashion and status, tracing who had something to carry, and how they carried it. When watches emerged as a status symbol in the mid-1800s, watch pockets were decorated with eye-catching embroidery. Slaves in the United States were often forbidden from having pockets and it became an identifying factor. There is a pocket specifically for tickets in a coat owned by the future King Edward VII, while a decadent clutch laying on a table at La Coupole in Paris is a bold statement of power by performer Josephine Baker. From the current era, there are Judith Leiber minaudières, the sparkling little sculptures seen from the Met Gala to Inaugural Balls, and an example of the unisex, mass-produced canvas tote — the ultimate humble brag — printed with the logo of the New Yorker magazine. There is also an “Ultimate bag” from Mary Ping, incorporating elements of “It” bags by Chanel, Gucci and Balenciaga into a single tote.

While the historical element is fascinating, there is still room for sheer delight. A green Bonnie Cashin raincoat features a leather pocket in the shape of a shoulder bag (a sketch for the piece shows her note about the style: “Look ma, no hands!”). Takashi Murakami’s collaboration with Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton still feels optimistic and playful. And then there’s the last piece on display, a Bill Blass cashmere sweater dress from Fall 1986. Two regal-feeling pockets with sequin swirls that evoke wrought iron rest diagonally across the hips. They don’t look like they could carry much of anything — certainly not without stretching out the dress they’re attached to — but they also look absolutely perfect just as they are.

Pockets to Purses: Fashion + Function is on view at the Museum at FIT through March 31.