The Uncomfortable, Awkward Crinoline, (what women put up with), by Diane Scott Lewis

 

Allure of the Crystal Palace will be available in November.    

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Writing about a woman thrust back in time to 1851, I needed to describe the clothing she would have to wear. Clothing totally foreign to her. In 1851, women's dresses were pushed out to unbelievable widths by an undergarment called a crinoline. How would any of us manage such a change?

My time-traveler, Keely, cringes at going from short clingy skirts to huge bell-shaped gowns. The gown bounces around her, bumping into everything. She feels like a ship swaying on the sea as she walks. 

It was invented to rid women from wearing heavy layers of petticoats. Why not just reduce the number of petticoats, I wonder? Keely decides to cut hers down, alter her gowns, and risk being ridiculed.

The first crinolines were made of horsehair, then wood, and in 1856, steel. Keely must figure out how to sit in them, and in her case, run.

The steel hoops were flexible, suspended by fabric tapes. But the fashion was awkward. Women in their homes put their knick-knacks up high to protect them from the billowing skirts. The garments certainly kept any suitors at bay.

Working women sometimes caught theirs on fire and were burned to death.

Magazine and newspaper writers mocked the style. One such article said women had to remove their crinolines and hang them on the side of the omnibuses before boarding. No proper Victorian woman would have done this, thus showing her underwear in public.

By the end of the 1860s, the fashion declined, to be replaced by the bustle in the 1870s.

The bustle only pushed out the skirt in back. Still not very practical.

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Diane lives in Western Pennsylvania with one naughty dachshund.