Kathy Pinna 1850
Lots of material - and you have to sit up straight, unsupported by the back of the chair.
Kathy Pinna Another view of sitting in a crinoline - no reclining!
The anatomy of a crinoline
Kathy Pinna This 1850 illustration shows a crinoline with its hoop underpinnings. Wouldn't you feel "caged"?
Kathy Pinna Yes, women's clothing was compared to real life "bells" in the newspaper.
1861 Fashion
Kathy Pinna Godey's Magazine fashions for December 1861 - the magazine every woman read to keep up on fashion.
Everyday fashion around the same time.
High Fashion, 1860's
Kathy Pinna House of Worth
Dressing help in the 1860's
Kathy Pinna As hoops allowed for wider skirts, you needed help getting the skirt on. Here, two women use poles to lower the skirt over the head of the wearer.
1860's ballgown
Kathy Pinna Still a crinoline, this skirt isn't as wide - probably to allow for dancing.
1865 London
Kathy Pinna Yes, everyone else can sit - but not you!
1860's England
Kathy Pinna So pretty. But so much clothing to put on to go out!
Between 1860 and 1880
Kathy Pinna Yes, there's a real woman's body in there somewhere. But even in everyday dressing, those hoops made for large skirts - and the corset made for a very small waist.
Kathy Pinna See how a hoop kept a woman pure and a man at bay?
Pamela Bollinger Circa 1880, you can see the crinolette and a bustle.
1888 High Fashion
Kathy Pinna In 1888, the House of Worth was making smaller skirts.
1898
Kathy Pinna But in 1898, they were still making fun of large skirts.
1906 New York
AncientFaces High society New York was quickly nostalgic for the crinoline, so the Crinoline Ball was held in 1906.
The subject of derision in the media (magazines and newspapers), crinolines were still very popular with women - from royalty such as Queen Victoria to factory workers. In later decades of the Victorian Era, the silhouette became smaller - evolving in the 1870's to a crinolette and a bustle (and of course, still underpinned by a corset). But throughout the Victorian Era, a large skirt, a small waist, and a fitted top was a "womanly" figure.
Of course, there was a downside to the crinoline/hoop skirt fad. Reportedly, thousands of women died when their skirts caught on fire. The skirts could also become caught in machinery, carriage wheels, gusts of wind, or other obstacles. And sometimes, at their widest, hoop skirts wouldn't allow two women to fit in a small room at the same time. If you wanted to be close to a man . . . well, that was frowned on anyway, so perhaps that wasn't a "downside". And sitting or getting in a carriage were a involved process.
In the 1940's and 1950's, petticoats became popular again. But they were lighter, the material was different, and the silhouette was smaller (although large by today's standard). Remember poodle skirts? Hoops haven't yet returned as a fashion statement, thank goodness!
And if you'd like to experience a bit of the Victorian Era, watch this video about dressing and sitting in a Civil War era crinoline How to Sit in a Hoop Skirt.
Have photos that you'd like to see included? Share your photos or click "next page" below to see 18 photos of the corsets that underpinned the hoop skirt fad.
