A hobble skirt is a skirt with a narrow enough hem to significantly impede the wearer's stride. A knee-long corset is also used to achieve this effect. A dress consisting of such skirt is called a hobble dress. The name was given in reference to the device used to restrain, or hobble, horses.

Although restrictive skirts first appeared in Western fashion in 1880s, the term was first used in reference to a short-lived trend of narrow skirts in around 1910-1913. The Parisian fashion designer Paul Poiret is sometimes credited with the design, inspired by the widespread Oriental influence on Western culture, but in fact the extreme hobble skirt is an evolution of the narrowing skirt seen in fashion since the turn of the century. Poiret may also have been influenced by observing the behavior of Mrs. Hart O. Berg upon the first aeroplane flight she took in October 1908 with Wilbur Wright, whereon she tied a rope around the bottom of her skirt to keep it from blowing up during the flight. After Wilbur and Mrs. Berg landed she walked away from the plane undaunted, being seen to 'hobble' around until removal of the rope from her skirt.