In 1908 Wilbur and Orville Wright were exhibiting their flying machine, and chose the wife of a business associate to be the first (ever) female passenger in an aeroplane. As the chains and propellers whirled and cranked dangerously close to Mrs. Berg’s skirt, they tied a rope above her ankles to avoid a disaster.
The Hobble Skirt
The flight was historic. The first woman in flight! The photos ran in newspapers and magazines around the world, and postcards sold faster than they could be printed.
It didnt' take long before Paris designers adopted her rope-tied skirt and named it the "hobble-skirt" for obvious reasons.
The style spread like wildfire among sewing bees and anywhere that women gathered. Not just for "birdwomen," every fashionista wanted to sport the curvy new style.
By 1910, the hobble skirt was all the rage from Paris to New York. The speed limit skirt, some jokingly called it.
Notice that the hobble skirt narrows around the knee area. Muck like a pencil skirt, the hobble skirt required some practice to walk in gracefully.The hobble skirt, inspired by a photograph of a rope tied around a woman's dress, not only inspired the pencil skirt, but also endured.
The gown of mincing baby steps and wiggle in her walk didn't just endure, but gradually evolved to become the oh-so-slender ruffle bottomed mermaid gowns and evening gowns that grace the red carpets still today.
Perhaps you recognize the Morticia Addams version that's become a cult classic and popular Halloween costume?
Hobble Skirt Becomes the Pencil Skirt
The first world war (WWI) had a profound effect on fashion. Hobble skirts were jettisoned for more practical skirts. Hemlines rose from floor length to ankle length and then calf length due to dye and fabric shortages. Trousers, protested as sinful and ugly before the war, became practical clothes for working women.
Post war, the Suffragettes finally won the vote in the UK in 1918. American womwn won the right to vote in 1920. In the aftermath of war, the younger generation questioned the values of the older generation, including their fashion. Flapper dresses and dropped waistlines became all the rage.
Dior Introduces the Pencil Skirt
In 1940, Christian Dior created the first pencil skirt, a shortened adaptation of the pre-war hobble skirt.After the shapeless gowns of the flapper era, women immediately embraced the curvy shape of the classic pencil skirt.
The earliest pencil skirts were part of a woman's suit ensemble, worn with a jacket or tunic.
But, eventually, the pencil skirt was worn with tighter fitted blouses and soft sweaters, accentuating the female form with nipped in waists and round curvy hips. Corsets gained popularity to enhance the pencil skirt shape.
Dior's design, and the many designers that followed, capitalized on dressing women fashionably in the post WWII cultural movements.
Again tired of wartime clothing, women embraced this feminine look.
In the era of post WWII prosperity, ready to wear was affordable. Almost everyone had the ability to afford new clothing. The popularity of pencil skirts remains, making the pencil skirt more of a fashion basic than a vintage fashion.
