Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 January 1911 — HOBBLE SKIRT AGED [ARTICLE]

HOBBLE SKIRT AGED

Fashion Was Prevalent at Least 1,000 B. C.

In Time of Ptolemy and Cleopatra Egyptian Women Hopped Along Nile in Garb Worn by Smart Set.

Chicago. —Has someone remarked that the “hobble skirt” is fin de siecle —up to date, the very apogee of modern feminine sartorial folly? Well, it is not —merely redivlvius of a fashion prevalent at least 1000 years B. C. This startling infonnation will come as somewhat of a shock to the clothing designers of the day who prided themselves that they had created something, originated something, or at least been responsible for the renaissance of a style not more-than three or four hundred years old. Over 2,900 years ago the dusky maidens of the now defunct city of Thebes hopped along merrily in their hobble skirts. Somewhat later in the time of Ptolemy and Cleopatra the favored of Pharaoh’s daughters, that is, the better classes of Egyptian women, tripped along the banks of the slimy, sluggish Nile, and a few of them probably fell in. The ancient hieroglyphics upon the obelisks, sarcophagi and pyramids of the earth’s once most powerful race show conclusively that women who have now been mummies for fully a score of centuries wore the much ridiculed and secretly admired "hpbbles.” Evidences of this vagary of dress among the ancient Egyptians may be seen in the picture writings an the granite and basalt tablets and upon the highly colored mummy cases that are preserved In the Field Columbian museum

The “hobbles" seem to have been confined (as well as confining) principally to the upper strata of the society of the day, yet examples of a partial “hobble effect” are to be seen In the chronicllngs of the middle classes. Dje-Mut-Esankh, a lady of high rank In Thebes, 1000 B. C., whose mummy case, If not whose mummy, forms a portion of the Egyptian archeological exhibit in the museum, wore the “ties that bind" at the earliest known date. She was the daughter of a family of noble priests and served In temples, herself as a musician to the great god, Ammon. Dje-Mut-Esankh, translated, means “Musician of Ammon.” Her hobble made her famous and feared. It was a wonderful asp of gold, studded with rubles and other gems, and was attached to her gown at the proper place by means of clasps. Princesses are said to have been envious of her.

Naja-Rames, of the XXVUth dynasty. about the seventh century B. C., went her predecessor one better, and wore ’em just above her knees, judging from the pictures of the lady that are extant today. But Egyptian art and artists were somewhat uncertain, however, and It Is possible that the bronze hued man who carved her picture for the edification of posterity may have mode a mistake. »* “Naja," to be familiar, la believed to have been the wife ofa powerful noble or au actress, otherwise she would not have dared Ignore public opinion and envy wjth the sang frold that Is apparent In her pictures. [iTWith her striking apparel and garlands of blue and rose-hued lotus flowers she was the sensation of her day. The discovery that the Egyptians wore the “hobbles" Is corroborated by Egyptologists. “Yes, it Is true that the style was In vogue, many years before Christ,” said W. Chesney Chenery, an authority on archeology, living at Hull house.. "It jnjy bears out the trite old saying, there Is nothing new, etc., etc.* ” “They certainly did wear tight skirts

in those days,” admitted Prof. James H. Breasted, Egyptologist at the University of Chicago. The custom gained such hold by the Egyptian race that they hobbled their dead by swathing them in bandages. The ladies whose pictures show the tight skirts lie at the Field museum, hobbled even in death. "Mummy” coats and "tube” dresses are to become new fashions. At least -this is the word that comes from the National Cloak, Suit and Skirt Manufacturers’ association. “Straight lines” will be a feature of spring garments. In tailored suits the jackets will be shorter, measuring twenty-six Inches or less. '