RetroXotique

By "Mike"

They then each retightened the laces of the boots from bottom to top, so tight that the surplus flesh was forced out in a ring above the top of the boots and she could not bend her rigid ankles at all. Beatrice felt her toes being squeezed down into the pointed toe of the boots, but knew that the retightening was necessary as without its support she would slip further down in into the toes and the pain would be much greater later on.

The next element of this extended dressing process was Beatrice’s ever-present knee hobble, ankle chain and chamois leather underskirt. Even after all these years, Joseph still insisted on them all and Beatrice had given up arguing about them and trying to leave them off as somehow, however carefully she walked Joseph always noticed. The knee hobble and ankle chain were fitted and then Beatrice pulled herself up on the bed post while Anne lifted her at the waist and Grace slipped the chamois leather underskirt up and over the toes and heels of the high heeled boots, working quickly as Beatrice would soon begin to fall. The underskirt was soon hooked all around to the bottom of the corset.

Anne then picked up the bustle or by it’s more formal name the ‘tournure’ and fastened it about Beatrice’s hips, it was more normally (or should we say was more normally 30 years ago when it was in fashion) fastened at the waist, but Joseph had decided that it added bulk at the waist, and so he had redesigned it so that could be affixed at the hips, at the same time he had made it more rigid so that it could stick out a full 18" back from her hips and still be collapsible when she sat down, although sitting was absolutely out of the question in today’s long blue corset.

Grace was busy attaching the large hip pads which were added to make Beatrice’s waist look even smaller along with the under arm pads which attached with tapes that went around under the bosom and back, up and over the shoulders to be tied at the back of the neck. With these artificial additions her waist would look extremely fragile and small against the hip spring of over 30".

Beatrice turned round slowly from the bedpost, moving uncertainly on the ultra high heels, which threatened to pitch her forward with every step. The shoes were basically ridiculous for walking in, as she required support at all times to stop herself  falling over and the minuscule paces she could manage in them made the ankle chain, knee hobble and chamois leather underskirt totally superfluous. With Anne & Grace at each elbow, she minced over to the lacing bar. Although she no longer used it for tight lacing, it was still required for support, placed underneath it was a solid looking 2ft high round stool about 4 inches across. Pushed up to the stool was a length of six low steps and draped around the bottom of the stool was the skirt of today’s walking outfit, normally a bustled skirt would be fitted over the top of the head of wearer and the pulled down the body and over the bustle, but for Beatrice’s bustled skirts this was not possible, because of the tightly draped skirts that Beatrice still wore. The skirts were tight even at the knee so they would not even fit over Beatrice’s shoulders never mind the large bustle. She swung her hips and started up the steps, even these low steps were a trial in those heels and she relied heavily on the support from Anne and Grace as, she threw each hip forward in turn to mount the steps.

Once she reached the top she could not see her feet as they were easily blocked by her shelf like bosom and she relied on the maid’s directions to shuffle her feet in the middle of the small topped stool, when they were settled in the middle the shoes took up very little room because of the impossibly short distance between toe and heel. Once settled, she reached up with one hand and then the other to grasp the lacing bar. The steps were pulled away and the mass of material that made up the skirt was pulled up the stool and over Beatrice’s boots, the underskirt, the bottom of the corset and with some difficulty over the bustle and hip pads. If the bustle part of the skirt had been complete it would not have been possible to fit it over the bustle, but only the lower half of the bustle was attached to the skirt and the top would come later attached to the jacket.

The waist band of the skirt was of the thinnest canvas but 2" deep and it was fitted around the stem waist of the corset and with some difficulty hooked up with six hooks and eyes, two wide flaps from either side of the bustled portion of the skirt were passed over the top of the bustle and laced tightly together until the pleated back of the skirt pulled tight. The pleats angled steeply from the very back of the shelf like bustle down to a 4" ribbon with massive bow at the front, which was tight around Beatrice’s calves. Beatrice was pretty sure that ribbon was even tighter than the under skirt. The ribbon and bow was Joseph’s choice from the current fashions, which was again leaning towards tight skirts, or truly hobble skirts, which were loosely draped at the hips and then tightened below the knees to force the wearer into minute steps. The tight draped front of the skirt which was completely separate from the bustle, made a tube from narrowing Beatrice’s bounteous hips down to below her knees. Below the tight ribbon the bottom the skirt flared out a full two feet all around as in the frou-frou skirts of the nineties, the two-foot flare was only over the height of about a foot, from Beatrice’s ankles past the high heels to the floor. Just the stiff taffeta petticoats could not support the wide flounce, and to achieve it, a mini crinoline supported the all the petticoats.

The fitting of the skirt was now complete and the low steps were moved around so that they were again in front of Beatrice, Beatrice released the lacing bar and took the waiting hands of Grace and Anne. She then edged her foot towards the rim of the stool to find the start of the first step. Looking down was of no use, as she could still only just see the flared edge of the front of the skirt over the edge of her bosom. Feeling very unsteady on the high heels and tight skirt, Beatrice took an age at each step, and was feeling very hot and bothered when she reached the floor again and began to pant quickly again. Anne noticed her mistress’s distress and quickly fetched a glass of water and Grace picked up a towel and fanned Beatrice for all she was worth.

Beatrice weathered the hot flush and was led back to the centre of the bedroom where she was fitted with the starched shirt, the shirt front had been starched over a curved form so that it would fit over Beatrice’s large bosom and still curl into towards the minute stem waist and fit smoothly above it. The sleeves were very tight and the double thickness, extra starched collar was over 3" high. The shirt was buttoned up from where it started to just above the stem of the waist. As the shirt would not be seen under a waistcoat it stopped before the waist so as not to add even half an inch to the waistline. It was fastened down to the skirt by six thin tapes to keep the starched front taut. The collar was left undone as Beatrice had enough problem breathing without the additional restriction of the high rigid collar. Next came the waistcoat, again only with material where it would be visible and thin straps over the shoulders, under the arms and around the waist to keep it in place. To make sure it stayed flat below her waist and down over the massive hip spring of the corset the pointed bottom was held down to the front of the skirt by numerous tiny hidden hooks and eyes.

Next came the boned jacket with its enormous puffed / leg of mutton / gigot sleeves tightly filled with balled paper which rustled loudly as Grace lifted it for Beatrice to fit her arms in. Once the jacket was on, then began the long process of fastening all the tiny hidden hooks eyes that pulled it taut to the edge of the waistcoat. Once this was completed and the jacket was smooth to the form of the Grace and Anne turned their attention to the buttons on the tight lower portion of each sleeve, the buttonholes were heavily reinforced and sleeves tight and they had to use a buttonhook to pull the tiny buttons through each hole. The sleeves stopped exactly halfway down each of the tight starched cuffs. The top part of the skirt, which hung from the false peplum was fitted over the bustle and hooked down until it was as tight and as smooth as an insect’s carapace.

Beatrice looked right and left and found that she had to peer over the top of the sleeves due to their height, but was slightly dismayed to find that although the sleeves were large her cantilevered bosom pushed the front out of the shirt even further forward than the projecting sleeves.

Joseph came knocking as the final touches of the outfit were being added; short very tight gloves were forced onto Beatrice’s hands. A tight thick veil was placed over her hair and tight to her face, fastened by numerous pins to the hair, the lower edge was pushed down into the high collar, (the veil was the only item of the outfit that Beatrice had chosen, she hoped it would offer her some anonymity from the crowd) it was her thickest veil and completely obscured her face. The large hat was skewered over the veil to the bouffant hairstyle with six very large extra long pins that pulled the tight rolled hair at the roots, the hats brim just skimming the top of the balloon sleeves. Then the next job was to close the high collar, Anne reached up and pressed the stud through at the bottom of the collar and then by pushing her fingers painfully through the veil into Beatrice’s soft throat flesh, she struggled to fasten the little hook and eye at the back of the top of the collar. The 3" masher style collar was so tight that Beatrice was forced to hold her head high and back to stop it digging in under her chin.

Anne quickly fastened a neat bow tie and she and Grace both helped Beatrice forward to be viewed by Joseph

"My darling you look wonderful, never have I seen your waist look so small and delicate, and the colours are just right for this patriotic ceremony".

Beatrice had wished that the walking outfit had been of a more subdued colour, so that with its non-fashionable striking silhouette, she might have stood a little more chance of not standing out at the ceremony, but Joseph had chosen the colours of the Union Jack for the costume. The hat, jacket, bustle and flounce were of a heavy iridescent navy blue silk, the large silk bow at the knees and the waistcoat were of a bright red and the tight draped skirt and stiff shirt were of brilliant white. The bow and the hat ribbon were of wide red, white and blue stripes. All in all with the wide skirt flounce running up to the wide hips darting in to the miniscule crushed stem waist, spilling sharply out again up to the prodigious bosom, padded jacket and massive gigot sleeves coupled with the widespread hat giving Beatrice a broad of beam. It seemed that the mass of material above and below could not be supported by something that looked so small. Beatrice was also quite tall at 5ft 8" and with the addition of the 6½" heels and the high piled hair, crowned with the large hat she towered above the two supporting maids. Indeed to sum up her appearance it would not have been unreasonable to say that Beatrice would have stood out at a Mexican Fiesta never mind a ceremony for opening a bandstand. Joseph continued

"But there is just one thing missing"

From behind his back he brought out at a polished steel 3" wide belt, which was an 18" circle with a buckle, shaped in emblem of his steel works. Joseph removed the buckle and using all his strength forced the spring steel of the belt wide enough so that it would pass around the less than 6" wide waist which was a minute link between the massive bosom made to look even wider by the padding and balloon sleeves and the padded hips. When Joseph released the ends it sprang back closed around the waist, but still with a 2" gap at the front. He then produced a small clamp from his pocket and unwound it out until the two ends fitted through two small holes in the ends of the belt. He then wound in the clamp and the two ends of the belt started to come together, after several turns of the screw, Beatrice’s eyes widened, amazingly she could feel the pressure the belt through the heavily boned corset and it was getting painful, she was about to protest, when Joseph said

"There that tight enough"

He then pushed hooks in the buckle into two more holes in the belt and holding it tight against the belt released the clamp. The belt stayed in pace deeply indented into the jacket and waistcoat, he stepped and admired Beatrice with a large satisfied smile on his face, and said

"Excellent, that looks excellent, a little advertising never hurt anybody, I am sure when the ladies see this steel belt everybody will want one"

"Not if they have to wear it as tight as this they wont"! Thought Beatrice.

"Come my dear we must be going" said Joseph.

Joseph took Beatrice’s arm and started the short walk to the ceremony, across the bedroom, down the stairs out of the front door and a little way across the park to the new bandstand and the waiting crowd. They had half an hour to manage it, and with Beatrice’s short tottering mincing paces, hampered by the high heels, ankle chain, knee hobble, chamois underskirt and beribboned, hobbled skirt, they would need every second of it. Beatrice knew also that they would have to stop often, to regain her breath as she was already struggling for air against the grip of the long waisted, tight laced corset, the steel belt and the stiff starched high collar.

They walked together, Beatrice grasping Josephs arm tightly for support as she tottered along, Joseph proud as could be with his wife at his side, her head held high (the sharp edge of the collar dictated it), above the waist the body held calm by the rigid boning of the all encompassing corset, the lower half hiding the flood of tiny movements of the preposterously high heeled boots, that were required to give a semblance of normal walking speed with the heavily weighted flounce, swinging slowly at a rate of about four times less than Beatrice’s mincing stride. The taffeta petticoats making a distinctive swishing with every slow swing, the spindly heels tap-tapping rapidly on the path, their tempo incongruous with stately pace above, the occasional creak of the corset bones was heard as the rotating hips fought against its tight grip and Beatrice made a constant panting as she tried to inhale enough air to support the frantic movement below.

Beatrice worried about the looks from the unknown crowd who would see in her ‘finery’ and look in wonder. This strange outfit, which was Joseph’s selection of the fashions of the last thirty years, with the hobbled skirt and the masher collar of the 1910’s, the ultra high heels, the frou-frou skirts and the leg of mutton sleeves of the nineties, the shelf like bustle of the late eighties and the tight draped skirts of the early eighties. Beatrice was truly a follower of fashion all the way from 1880 to 1910.