Why Hobble Skirts?

A Hobble Skirt is the perfect companion to the high stiletto shoe. We are known for our incredible shoes. Now we also offer incredible Hobble Skirts.

As your stride is already shortened by your high thin heels, a narrower skirt is not only more manageable, but aesthetically more desirable. The curvaceous rear outline of a high stiletto shoe echoes the rear silhouette of the tight-skirted woman, from her waist down. The two items of clothing are inseparable - in fact the first thing you'll do when you try on your Hobble Skirt before putting on your shoes is walk around on tiptoe, as though wearing high stiletto heels. It just feels natural.

Genuine Hobble Skirts suitable for everyday wear are so difficult to find that it seems like a logical step (a nice short one!) to diversify and introduce our own.

Let us be clear, once and for all, about the correct use of the word "hobble". It is described as a "Hobble Skirt" because it hobbles you, or acts as a hobble. NOT because you hobble when you walk in it, as some badly-researched internet resources may suggest. There’s a distinct difference in the use of the word. An elegant woman in a Hobble Skirt does NOT hobble (i.e. walk with a limp - verb intransitive.) To suggest she does so would be an insult.  It is, however, quite correct to state that her skirt hobbles her (verb transitive) or that her skirt is so narrow below the knee that it acts as a hobble (noun - a device used to restrain or immobilise).

To sum it all up, it's the skirt that does the hobbling - not the wearer !

A woman who abandons mere utilitarianism by confining her movements with a genuine Hobble Skirt is an impressive sight. As she enters the room, she is confident she will not go unnoticed. Women wear Hobble Skirts for a variety of reasons - to make themselves feel wonderful, to attract male attention, to dumbfound other women and so on. Undeniably, if surprisingly, the Hobble Skirt represents empowerment. The Hobble-Skirted woman dictates the pace. She can not and will not be hurried. The world waits for her in fascination, compelled to make allowances for the way she has chosen to inconvenience herself to enhance her personal style.

In a real Hobble Skirt, you must move and behave differently. You have to walk as the skirt tells you to walk. It takes a bit of practice -  you should only consider becoming a Hobble Skirt wearer if you are happy about this.

If in doubt, here's some good news: contrary to what fashion “experts” may claim to be the clothing requirements of the allegedly high speed modern woman, life has become better-suited than ever before to the wearing of Hobble Skirts. With practice and patience you’ll be able to manage surprisingly well. After all, it is 2011 - when was the last time you had to mount a high step to climb aboard a bus or train? Just how difficult is it to drive your automatic to a multi-storey car park and saunter around the adjoining smooth-floored shopping mall, complete with escalators and elevators? Once you have grown accustomed to it, we think you will rather enjoy the novelty of being hobbled by your skirt and you'll be amused by the reactions it provokes.

Our "Little Black Hobble Skirts" are the complete antithesis of what so many shops sell as “pencil skirts” - unexciting, straight, stretchy items, with unsightly and superfluous splits or vents, advertised as offering “freedom of movement”. (One wonders what kind of movement the manufacturers envisage – the Can-Can, perhaps, or the Steeplechase?)

What the fashion industry seems to have forgotten is that tight skirts are supposed to change how you walk and move. The little side-steps and hops you have to perfect are what makes Hobble Skirts so eternally fascinating.

Of course, wearing your "Little Black Hobble Skirt" will occasionally present you with interesting challenges, but once you’ve got your walk and your attitude sorted, you’ll be fine. Just work that wiggle, take extra care on the stairs, don’t forget the stilettos - and have fun!