Hoop skirts were a fashionable women’s undergarment in the mid-19th century, made of a bell-shaped frame with reinforcing materials. They were worn by upper-class women on formal occasions but were replaced by the bustle for practicality. Hoop skirts are now associated with Civil War fashion and pose dangers to the wearer.
Hoop skirts are a type of women’s undergarment, related to the crinoline, that enjoyed a brief period of high fashion in the mid-19th century. Later, both were replaced by the bustle, as women’s fashion began to give way to more practical garments. The hoop skirt was worn on formal occasions by fashionable upper-class women, and would not have appeared on working women and lower-class women. Sailing in a hoop skirt is challenging as any historical reenactor will tell you, and wearing one requires some training.
A hoop skirt is made of a wide bell of sturdy material with covers sewn at multiple points along the length of the skirt. The carcasses contain reinforcing materials, such as whalebones, metal, ropes, and twisted fabrics. This causes the skirt of the hoop to rigidly protrude from the wearer’s body. When dresses are worn over hoop skirts, they take the bell shape of hoop skirts. This gives the lower body the look of a large triangle, and at one point it was very fashionable, if impractical.
For women in the 19th century, hoop skirts actually represented a vast improvement on their undergarments. Previously, women had to wear multiple layers of heavy petticoats to achieve the full bell shape that hoop skirts created. With hoop skirts, a woman only needed two petticoats, the hoop skirt and the dress. The first petticoat was thin, rather than full, and was worn under the hoop skirt for modesty. The second petticoat was worn over the hoop skirt to soften its lines so that the dress would not appear bunched or bulging. All told, a woman would still wear a considerable amount of cloth, thanks to the immense skirts that were so popular with the upper classes.
In the United States, hoop skirts are most often associated with Civil War fashion, often appearing at history balls and events commemorating this period in American history. Full skirts actually posed serious dangers to the wearer. It would be difficult for women in hoop skirts to sit without exposing themselves, and the skirts also had to be raised to avoid puddles and dirt on the roads. More importantly, a hoop skirt could get caught on a door or piece of machinery, or could catch fire. Nurses were specifically prohibited from wearing hoop skirts, as the skirts would have made it impossible for them to care for patients. Many women warmly welcomed the slimmer style of the bustle.
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