Monday, April 28, 2014

1910-1919: More changes?

1910-1919: Second Decade of change in American clothing


 Origin:
         Hobble Skirts
               A man named Paul Poiret claimed to have come up with the idea for the "Hobble Skirt" though it became a high fashion that started in the early 1800's it still held on until 1910 in America though it was starting to fade into the fashion of the past. Women soon began to search for clothing that was easier to wear because with the skirts so tight around the legs made it very difficult to walk around. The hobble skirt, was high in fashion around 1910-1919. It was originally created in Franc by a man named Paul Poiret the term "Hobble skirt" wasn't in use in America until 1910. What was said to have inspired Paul Poiret was Mrs. Hart Berg. She was the "first American woman to join the Wright brothers in the air." History says that she tied her skirts with a rope just below the knees (to keep her skirts from flying back as the plane was in flight) thus creating the first hobble skirt.

 Primary source:
"Between 1910 and 1913, the hobble skirt reigned supreme in fashion, obtaining popularity from the Oriental- and Directoire-inspired crazes. These skirts were extremely slim to the point of forcing women who wore them to take tiny, mincing “geisha-like” steps, and nearly barring them from independent movement (it is rather curious that as the suffrage movement moved to militancy, fashions for women became restricting). Though the hobble skirt was denounced as unsafe, and some employers even barred their female workers from wearing them, a few factions approved of the trend: 'Grandmothers think that the means justify the end, and that the hobble skirt will bring back to women the old grace. They will be compelled to shorten their strides, learn to place their feet in a straight line, and not throw them in or out in the slovenly modern way, and that the entire appearance of women will be thus benefited.'"
    
Purpose:
       As it was discovered earlier, the hobble skirt was inspired by Mrs. Hart Bret. But there are other resemblances... "The hobble skirt, which reached its peak of popularity in 1910, was a variation on the harem skirt designed by Poiret to resemble the styles of the Middle East" 

Value:
      This is an expression of the time because women suffrage entered the twentieth century and women began expressing themselves more. In 1913, a Women's suffrage parade was attacked by a mob on the eve of President Wilson's inauguration. Many women were injured but no arrests were made. 


Limitations: 
     This specific item by its self isn't enough to tell us anything about the time period...

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