The Art of TDKev

TDKev's distinctive art, which you can see at deviantART, as well as on his blog, often features skin-tight dresses and skirts - such as on his latest piece:

EuroLadies by *TDKev on deviantART

A Short History of Hobble Skirts

[This section imported from the original site.]

HOBBLE SKIRT ORIGINS IN THE 1880S

In modern Western fashion history, narrow skirts appeared in the early 1880s, combined with the bustle to give the gown a slimmed down look. This change was in effect for only a few years, the skirts having widened somewhat again in the latter 1880s.

HOBBLE SKIRT FASHIONS FROM THE EARLY 1910s

The term 'hobble skirt' came into popular use in the early 1910s, when a European fashion trend started by French designer Paul Poiret introduced long skirts that were narrow at the hem, thus 'hobbling' the wearer. Some attribute one of Poiret's inspiration to Mrs. Hart Berg, the first American woman to join the Wright Brothers in air. To keep her skirts from flying out of control while airborne, she tied a rope around them below the knees (Katherine Wright, sister of the flight innovators the Wright brothers, also did the same shortly afterwards).

MRS BERG'S FLYING COSTUME

For a short while, the tighter the skirt, the more fashionable it was. This also brought about accessories such as the hobble garter (you can see one in tbe PBS series The Manor House) designed to limit the wearer's stride so that she would not cause the skirt to rip. This trend died shortly afterwards due to the impracticality of such a garment, particularly with the introduction of cars (the skirts making getting in and out of
one a bit of an adventure).

PENCIL SKIRTS OF THE MID CENTURY

Long tight skirts would however surface occasionally throughout the century, such as the pencil skirts seen above. Often during fashion shoots the skirts were pinned behind the model to make them appear as tight as possible. Hobble skirts also emerged as a fetish fashion, as seen in the issues of such 1950s fetish publications
like John Willie's Bizarre and later Exotique.

MODERN WEDDING GOWNS (courtesy of THEKNOT.COM)

Today, the hobble skirt is still a popular item among fans of fetish fashion, as well as some of the highly fashionable, thanks to modern designers such as Karl Lagerfield. The modern hobble skirts are generally ankle-length and narrow all the way down, often made from materials such as latex and PVC. The long tight silhouette has also remained a popular one among eveningwear and formal attire, both in straight and mermaid (straight to the knees then flaring out) versions.

What's so special about it? Many people find hobble skirts attractive because they restrict the wearer's steps, making leg movements more deliberate, showing off the wearer's lower body while covering it at the same time, much like the corset does for the upper body.

Shopping - Peccatus Latex

From London, UK, we have Peccatus, a latex designer with some lovely designs, such as these mermaid skirts:

While they're putting together their site, you can check out their wares at their Etsy shop.

Runway - Armani Privé Fall 2011

Our next runway spotlight (also via backbuttoned) features Giorgio Armani's haute couture collection for Fall 2011. It features quite a few calf-length (and a couple of full length) rather narrow skirts, which you can see here:

Runway - Chanel Fall 2011

[Thank you to backbuttoned for the tip.]

Check out Chanel's Fall 2011 haute couture collection.  About a third into the show, you'll start seeing quite a few rather stylish outfits featuring slim-fitted skirts, with a flare below the knees. Even the final model wears a bridal outfit with a stride-impeding skirt.  Notably, Chanel's current designer is Karl Lagerfield, who is no stranger to the hobble skirt.

Here's an example:

In addition to Chanel's site, you can also see the video via YouTube:

Shopping - ASOS

Our first contributor (remember, you can suggest or share content here) brought up ASOS - a great site if you're looking for a mainstream look while still sporting a rather tight skirt.  While their offerings change constantly, they've often featured rather slim skirts and dresses - particularly designs that don't feature a slit, therefore visibly impeding the stride while not overtly looking extreme.  Here are a couple of current examples:

What is particularly great about the ASOS site is that they feature runway videos of all their products, so you can actually see how the garments look on a walking model.  I highly recommend checking it out - you'll see why I included the pieces above.  You can find several similar skirts and dresses by simply doing a search for "maxi."  Also, I want to point out that the link here are to the US site, but ASOS has several other regional variations as well.

Runway - Versus Spring 2011

Versace's Versus collection for Spring 2011 featured a lot of calf-length skirts and dresses that were cut rather slim, forcing the models to pay a bit more attention to their walk.