Manufacture of crinolines circa 1860
The corset set aside, one of the greatest follies of the Victorian Era fashion was the oversized cage crinoline. Generous skirts were favored since the 1830’s, but the invention of the hoop crinoline in 1858, which allowed women to discard heavy petticoats, gave birth to a monstrosity never seen since. Women suffered the discomfort while the cartoonists were delighted with the situation.
- “Madame can live in one room and the crinoline in the other one.” Le Journal Illustré, 1867
- La femme en crinoline, caricature by Honoré Daumier
Related articles:
The Fashion Empire of Charles Worth
This is really interesting. I love the pictures! But can you tell me more? How long did they last? I know the US was particularly fond of crinolines, but I’m not used to seeing such big skirts in the pictures I see from the UK. Perhaps that’s because I’m studying mainly 1876 and later? I’m sure it differs somewhat by country, too, as the US were so much slower to catch on.
Oh. Just read the Worth article. 1850′s and 60′s. Which makes sense, really. The extreme fads never lasted too long. Look at the shelf bustle. That lasted one year and then…poof, bustles dissolved and by the late nineties there was nothing but a pad.
I fear I must disagree with the sentiment that women “suffered the discomfort.” Having spent many a summer’s day in both starched petticoats and in a cage crinoline, I can tell you that the cage is infinitely more preferable. In a reasonable width, the cage lifts the heavy pettis away from the legs and provides much in the way of natural cooling. In wet weather, the cage keeps wet, dirty pettis from wrapping about the legs. Though they were much lampooned, they were a fashion that was miles better than the layers of heavily starched cotton that prevailed in the decades before. As with any fashion, the vast majority of the millions of women (from factory girls and scullery maids on up) who embraced them wore reasonable variations. Lampoons and cartoons are meant to exaggerate reality (and I daresay were written by men who never had to deal with the realities of women’s fashion).
Thank you for finding those pictures. I enjoy the site very much!