Costume History
Influence on Fashion Project - Crinoline

Crinoline was originally a stiff fabric made of horse hair and cotton or linen used to make petticoats. It eventually was used to describe a stiff structure shaped like a skirt. Wearing large skirts was a style to boost women's shape even before the nineteenth century. However, before the Victorian era, women's gowns were influenced by neoclassicism and thus were simple and straight. But by 1810, there was a desire to widen gowns again, like paniers. However, there was desire to create more of a cone shape in skirts. With the crowning of Queen Victoria in 1837, all eyes were on her for fashion trends. This was when crinoline became popular. And unlike paniers, women of all social classes wore crinoline. The first crinolines were petticoats made of crinoline fabric but made stiffer. Ruffles were often used to make the dress look wider. However, the coats often collapsed, so people started to put cord through the hem. By the 1830s, crinolines were held up with whalebone or cane. But, in order to keep the ridges from showing, women had to wear as many as six petticoats. In 1858, an American W.S. Thomson developed the cage crinoline. He created a fastener that could attach the cage crinoline to a band around the woman's waist. This created a dome shape, significantly larger than the previous cone shape and it was lighter than the earlier crinoline. Because the cage was synthetic, women did not have to wear as many petticoats to cover the ridges. This invention was so popular the city of Sheffield could produce half a million hoops in a week with factory women buying cheaper versions of it. By 1860, the size of the crinoline reached its maximum, which was 180 centimeters or six feet in diameter. At that point, the shape was adjusted to only appear in the back. The cage structure only extended from the back of the woman's legs. This new look was sometimes called "crinolette" and was popular up from 1867 to the mid 1870s. By 1867, women no longer used upper hoops and even later, a puffed up effect was created at the back of the dress. Despite lasting for so many years, the crinoline presented many problems. In the early years, when women had to wear many petticoats, it was unbearable in the summer, with the addition of it being heavy. When it was very wide, women had a lot of trouble getting through doors and sitting down. This was only solved by the use of spring steel, which would allow the shape of the dress to be temporarily changed. Still, if the skirt was not spread out properly, the entire hoop could fly up in the woman's face. Another mishap could occur with light crinoline in which a woman could be blown over exposing her legs and undergarments, like when an umbrella flips inside out because of the wind. As well, when a woman was not used to wearing it, she could knock over objects. Crinolines came back into fashion in the 1940s and 50s. They were used to make the knee-length skirts that were popular that time look fuller and were made of fabric. Crinolines are still worn today, but it has trickled down to being used only at fancy balls and as wedding gowns. However, they are made lighter material like plastic or steel with layers of rigid net and they certainly do not have such a large circumference as before. And for practical purposes, I don't think the Victorian era size will appear again.

Betsey Johnson; Spring 2009, Ready-to-Wear:
This big Crinoline was copied from the Victorian era but deliberately shows the legs.

John Galliano; Fall 2009, Ready-to-Wear
This influenced by the Victorian era with only upper hoops

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crinoline http://www.fashion-era.com/crinolines.htm http://www.ehow.com/about_5061040_types-crinolines.html http://www1.assumption.edu/whw/hoops/default.html
http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1231_vivienne_westwood/