The Probert Encyclopaedia of Costume

CRINOLINE

Crinoline is properly a kind of fabric made chiefly of horse-hair, but afterwards the term was generally applied to a kind of petticoat supported by steel hoops, and intended to distend or give a certain set to the skirt of a lady's dress. Hooped skirts (farthingales or fardingales), supported by whalebone, were worn in the time of Queen Elizabeth I and James I, and the fashion was again introduced in the time of George II. The crinoline proper came in about 1856, and was worn by women of all ranks, sometimes proving by their portentous dimensions a source of much inconvenience and no little danger. The 19th century crinoline was essentially a wire frame which hung from the waist, preserving a swollen appearance of over-skirt. In ballrooms, crinoline gave the lady dancers great grace, hanging from the waist as it did it allowed great freedom of movement of the legs and the skirt to flow. The danger of crinoline resulted in many women being entangled in traffic or blown over cliffs and a campaign was undertaken by reformers, the magazine Punch included, to dissuade women from wearing it and the immense bell-shaped crinolines fell into disuse about 1866. Crinoline wire was for years a leading branch in the steel trade. A horse-hair and cotton fabric formerly used as a material for making ladies' bonnets was also called crinoline.
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