Hobble-skirted

MY MISSUS HAS THROWN ME OVER FOR THAT UGLY HOBBLE SKIRTED CREATURE - SUCH IS LIFE, WHEN ONE GETS OLD AND WRINKLED AND THE SAWDUST LEAKS OUT AT THE JOINTS!

In Paris it is said to create a small sensation in the neighborhood when a fair damsel hobble-skirted alights from her carriage or automobile.

“Asbestos, do you think that those jelly-bag Equalities out on the street there, with their ash-barrel suits, can be compared for one moment with our unredeemed, unreformed, heaven-created, hobble-skirted women of the twentieth century?”

Hobble-skirts became very popular at Hudson’s store in the 1905-1910 period, even though women who wore the stylish garments put themselves at risk to cross Woodward Avenue. On Woodward, pedestrians had to sidestep clanging trolleys, careening bicycles, sputtering motor cars, and snorting horses frightened by the clamor of unregulated traffic … equally frightened by the sight of hobble-skirted women, feather boas flowing from their shoulders and ostrich plumes fluttering from huge hats, mincing across the avenue and dodging the nervous delivery horses.

An extra step was added to street cars at this time to accommodate the hobble-skirted lady.