Anyway - back to the wonderful world of imagination. If I were to choose a riding habit for such an event.. knowing my fascination for all things Edwardian, Victorian and antique.. I would without a doubt choose this one (originally posted on by Leila, AKA Sidesaddle Girl) It has the fortitude to hold up to a brisk country hack.. and yet does not sacrifice feminine elegance! Yes indeed, this would be my choice!
To quote Leila, "During the late 19th century, habit makers started to experiment with making riding habits safer so that women were not caught up in full skirts which wrapped around the pommels often causing a rider to be dragged. The skirt on this habit, although it is not "apron" in style, has an early safety feature. The skirt has a long slit which extends from the off-side of the right knee and extends down to the hem....
...The this slit would enable the wearer to hook her legs around the pommel without the annoyance of excess material bunching up under her legs and seat (thereby creating a more secure seat) and if the rider fell off, there would not be anything to catch onto the pommels causing the rider to be dragged. I tried to show in this photo, how the pommels on my saddle insert neatly into the skirt's slit."
Ever since Leila posted this habit on her blog.. I was smitten by it!What would you choose to wear?
3 comments:
I loved that habit while I had it but it was SO SMALL! The dress form I used to display it, was my pillow hooked over the stand of my normal dress form!
That is beautiful I am going to have a saftey skirt on my habit, I have often thought about how easy it could be to be drug. I got my skirt caught dismounting last summer, luckily my mare is pretty quiet and short so I just gave everybody a show.
The skirt on this habit wasn't sewn shut "securely". It essentially had a long slit which was just basted shut up to the pommels to create a 2hole2 for them to go through. If you fell off, you wouldn't have been dragged in this habit as the light basting stitched would have torn open instantly from the weight of the rider falling off.
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