Etiquette and a Noble Bearing

Yes, shorter skirts did come into style, yet women still have problems learning to walk gracefully in ill-fitting shoes, which damage the feet and make the problem worse. The image above shows instruction from a 1950’s charm school. It’s called the “Walking Pivot”– “One good effect of short skirts, if ever generally adopted, will be to force women to learn how to walk well. At present they shuffle, mince, turn in one foot, do everything but walk. Nothing commands more respect than dignity of carriage, always excepting elegance and dignity of speech; and when my sex discovers that feet have a higher mission… the reign of noble bearing may set in.”
–Image source, Pinterest

The Mudless Gown

One good effect of short skirts, if ever generally adopted, will be to force women to learn how to walk well. At present they shuffle, mince, turn in one foot, do everything but walk. Nothing commands more respect than dignity of carriage, always excepting elegance and dignity of speech; and when my sex discovers that feet have a higher mission than to be crowded into boots and shoes too small for them, and that corns are an offence against nature, the reign of noble bearing may set in.

“It’s the rarest thing in the world to find a foot with straight toes among women,” say chiropodists. “They lap and over-lap, and frequently are doubled under. As for bunions, well, they are the rule.” No woman with a distorted foot can walk naturally, and it stands to reason that such torturing of the extremities must conduce to physical ailments of various kinds. So turn it which way we will, tight boots are an abomination. Let the apostle of the mudless gown but introduce a fetching covering for the feet and prove herself mistress of the art of walking, and she will go a long way toward breaking down those most formidable of barriers, tradition and prejudice.– Kate Feild's Washington, 1891

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia