Sociology 161: Gender Socialization & Fashion

Hobble skirt

Several women's deaths were attributed to the hobble skirt:

DEATH IN THE HOBBLE SKIRT (The Adelaide Advertiser [Australia], September 18, 1918)

At a summer resort in Russia two sisters were drowned last month within a few yards of the shore owing to the modern imbecile dress with a girdle below the knees. The two girl, good swimmers, went out boating with a student, and were overturned close to land. The student swam out; the girls struggled for a-while swimming with arms only, but at last went down, their bodies being only recovered some hours later.

Edwardian Hobble Skirt - Fountainhead Museum (1:58)