Pencil skirt
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A pencil skirt is a slim-fitting skirt with a straight, narrow cut. Generally the hem falls to, or just below, the knee and is tailored for a close fit. It is named for its shape: long and slim like a
Suit with a pencil skirt, German, 1954
Juliana Awada and Melania Trump in pencil skirts, 2017
Hobble skirt
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A hobble skirt was a skirt with a narrow enough hem to significantly impede the wearer's stride. It was called a "hobble skirt" because it hobbled the woman as she walked. Hobble skirts were a short-l
Pencil skirt
…skirts and loafers are classic preppy wear. Narrow-fitting skirts have a long history in Western fashion. The predecessor to the pencil skirt is the hobble skirt, a pre–World War I fad inspired by the Ballets Russes. This full-length skirt with a narrow hem seriously impeded walking. The French designer Christian…
A postcard (c. 1911) depicting a man pointing at a woman wearing a hobble skirt. The caption says, "The Hobble Skirt. 'What's that? It's the speed-limit skirt!'", because a hobble skirt limits the wearer's stride.
Eight women participate in a hobble skirt race.
Hobble skirt style, 1911
Journalist Marguerite Martyn drew this sketch of herself wearing a hobble skirt while interviewing millionaire Edward Howland Robinson Green in 1911, with a quotation from him.