The Victorian Era

How Did the Crinoline Evolve?

Article · Fashion & Dress · The Victorian Era, 1837–1901

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The crinoline was the most distinctive single item of Victorian women’s fashion, and its evolution was one of the central stories of the period. The crinoline, which had begun life as a stiffened petticoat made of horsehair, was transformed in the 1850s into a separate garment of steel hoops joined by tapes, and it produced the vast dome-shaped skirts of the 1850s and 1860s. The crinoline reached its greatest extent around 1858–60, when a fashionable skirt could measure several yards around the hem, and it was gradually reduced in size through the 1860s, until it was replaced by the bustle in the 1870s. The history of the crinoline is examined in detail in Women’s Victorian Fashion, and the context of the period is set out in Victorian Fashion and Dress.

The Origins of the Crinoline

The word crinoline comes from the French crin (horsehair) and lin (linen), and the original crinoline was a stiffened petticoat of horsehair and linen. Such petticoats had been in use for decades, but the specifically Victorian crinoline emerged in the 1830s as a lighter and more flexible alternative to the older stiffened petticoats of buckram, of corded cotton, of starched muslin, and of whalebone. The horsehair crinoline had obvious advantages in lightness and flexibility, but it was heavy, hot, and demanding to maintain.

Three stages can be distinguished in the early evolution. The first was the horsehair crinoline of the 1830s and 1840s, a stiffened petticoat of horsehair and linen worn under the dress to give the skirt its shape. The second was the corded crinoline of the late 1840s, a petticoat of cotton with cords of cotton or wool running through it, lighter and more flexible than its predecessor. The third was the netted crinoline of the early 1850s, a stiffened petticoat of cotton net with the netting running in circles, and lighter still. The fashions of the decade are described in What did Victorian women wear in the 1850s?.

The Cage Crinoline

The cage crinoline, the most distinctive form of the crinoline, was patented in 1856 by the American inventor Arnold Gathmann. A number of other patents for similar structures were taken out in the same year, and several British and Continental firms were producing cage crinolines by 1857. The cage consisted of a series of spring steel hoops, joined by vertical tapes, worn over the chemise and the drawers and under the petticoats and the dress. It was far lighter, more flexible, and more washable than the old stiffened petticoats, and it produced the dome-shaped skirt that was the visual signature of the mid-Victorian period.

The cage crinoline was an immediate success. By 1858 it had largely replaced the older petticoats, and the great crinoline manufacturers of the period, among them the Manchester firm of Rigby & Evill, were producing millions of them a year. The cage came in a wide range of sizes, from the small crinoline of the early 1860s with three or four hoops to the great crinoline of the late 1850s with eight or nine. The cage was also produced in a range of forms, including the full crinoline, the half crinoline, the dress improver, the skirt lifter, and the early bustle. The history of the bustle is examined in What was a Victorian bustle?.

The Crinoline at Its Height

The crinoline reached its greatest extent around 1859. Fashionable skirts measured several yards around the hem, and the cage beneath could be well over a yard in diameter. The crinoline of this period was so large that two ladies wearing crinolines could not pass each other in a narrow doorway, and a wearer could not sit down in an ordinary chair. The crinoline also had practical disadvantages: it was hot, cumbersome, and awkward to manage in a carriage, on a train, or in a crowded room. It was dangerous as well. There were many cases of crinolines catching fire in front of an open grate, and many cases of wearers being caught in machinery, in doors, in carriages, and on railway steps.

The crinoline was the subject of a long-running satire. Punch, Fun, Judy, and the Illustrated London News all carried cartoons mocking its size, its shape, its impracticality, and its dangers. The medical press joined in, warning against the heat it produced, the restricted movement it enforced, and the tight lacing that was often combined with it.

The Decline of the Crinoline

The crinoline began to decline in the 1860s. The great cages of the late 1850s were too large to be practical, and the smaller cages of the early 1860s gradually took over. These were still substantial, but they allowed the wearer to move more freely. By the mid-1860s the smaller cage was itself being replaced at the back of the skirt by the crinolette, a half-cage that supported only the rear of the skirt, and at the front of the skirt by the dress improver, a similar half-cage. The crinolette and the dress improver were, in turn, gradually replaced by the bustle, which became the dominant form from the 1870s to the 1890s.

The crinoline did not disappear entirely. Smaller cages were in use well into the 1870s, and a much reduced form returned briefly in the 1880s and 1890s, supported by lighter hoops of sprung steel. The crinoline was revived again in a more modest form in the 1900s and 1910s, and a stylised version returned in the 1920s and 1930s. The history of the crinoline is examined in Women’s Victorian Fashion and in What was a Victorian bustle?.

The Legacy of the Crinoline

The legacy of the crinoline is substantial. It was one of the first mass-produced items of fashion, and one of the first to be supported by a major industry in its own right. The crinoline manufacturers, the retailers who sold the cages, and the dressmakers who cut the skirts to fit over them were all part of a new commercial structure that anticipated the modern fashion industry. The crinoline was also one of the first items of fashion to be the subject of a major international trade, with British-made cages being exported to the Continent, to the United States, to the British Empire, and to Latin America. The legacy of the crinoline is examined in Victorian Fashion and Dress.