The crinoline was a stiff petticoat made from a linen and horsehair mixture, popular in the 19th century for supporting full skirts. It evolved into the crinolet and bustle, and is still worn today in some formal wear and historical reenactments.
A crinoline is a type of women’s undergarment, originally made from a material of the same name. The crinoline was a mixture of linen and horsehair traded for its strength and stiffness. As the material came to be used exclusively in the creation of stiff petticoats, the petticoats became known as crinolines, to distinguish them from the softer silk and taffeta petticoats. The crinoline reached its height as a fashion item in the early 1800s, and had all but disappeared completely by the late 1800s.
The name “crinoline” was a portmanteau developed by an inventor of the fabric. It combines crin, a French word for hair, with lin, the French for linen. Other etymologists believe that the word is derived from the Latin words for these objects, crinis and linum, respectively. The fabric was stiff enough to support the full skirts fashionable in the 19th century, and it was also unquestionably irritating and uncomfortable.
Full skirts became popular in the early 1800s, when women of all classes wore multiple petticoats and a crinoline to puff out their skirts. Bulky petticoats would have made women very hot and also subjected them to the potential of becoming entangled in their skirts. The development of the crinoline helped reduce the number of petticoats needed, and the caged crinoline, introduced in the 1850s, further reduced the number of skirts that had to be worn.
The crinoline cage is very similar to a hoop skirt. Use bands of rigid material in graduated sizes to create a bell-shaped support for a dress or skirt. However, the crinoline was worn by women of all social classes, rather than just upper-class women, as was the case with the hoop skirt. Unfortunately, cage crinolines were just as dangerous as hoop skirts. The lightweight flammable materials used to make them posed a serious fire hazard, and women could also inadvertently tip things over, especially in larger skirts. The crinoline could also get caught on moving machinery, posing a serious risk to the wearer.
As women’s fashions changed, the crinoline evolved into the crinolet, which positioned most of the material toward the back of the body, creating a wedge shape. The crinolette in turn gave way to the bustle, which eventually became a stiff wad of material that caused the back of a dress to fly. A slip would have been worn under a crinoline to prevent scratching and modesty.
When big skirts came back in style in the 1950s and 1960s, so did the crinoline, to help maintain them. Crinolines are still worn in some types of formal wear and by historical reenactors who want their skirts to be full, flowing, and even. Modern crinolines are much smaller than the formidable hoop skirts of the 19th century, and are somewhat easier to wear, being made with lightweight plastics and elastic fastening systems.
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