The Victorian Era

What Was a Victorian Bustle?

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

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The bustle was one of the most distinctive items of late Victorian women’s fashion, and it was the principal successor to the crinoline from about 1870 to the end of the 1880s. The bustle, which was worn over the buttocks and projected out behind, was created by a half-crinoline, by a wire frame, by a stuffed pad, or by a combination of these devices. It first flourished in the early and mid-1870s, gave way to the slim natural form of the late 1870s and early 1880s, and then returned in an exaggerated, shelf-like second form in the mid-1880s, before disappearing from fashion in the early 1890s. The history of the bustle is examined in Women’s Victorian Fashion, and the context of the period is set out in Victorian Fashion and Dress.

The Origins of the Bustle

The bustle had its origins in the half-crinoline of the 1860s. The half-crinoline, also known as the crinolette or the dress improver, was a half-cage that supported either the back or the front of the skirt, developed in the mid-1860s as a more practical alternative to the great cage crinoline of the 1850s. The half-crinoline of the back was the direct ancestor of the bustle, and it was developed into a separate garment in the late 1860s and early 1870s. The history of the crinoline is examined in How did the crinoline evolve?.

The bustle was developed in the late 1860s and early 1870s, and it gradually replaced the crinoline as the principal support of the fashionable silhouette. In the early 1870s it was a relatively modest pad or frame with a small projection over the buttocks, often worn together with a crinolette. By the mid-1870s the drapery of the dress was gathered up over a more substantial structure, and the projection at the back, heaped with swags, flounces, and bows, became a defining feature of the decade’s fashions.

The First Bustle, 1870 to 1876

The first bustle of the 1870s grew from the crinolette of the late 1860s. The early 1870s saw a modest pad or half-cage worn under the dress, with a small projection at the back, but by 1873 the projection had grown to a substantial shelf, supported by a half-cage of sprung steel, and the dress was draped, swagged, and trimmed to make the most of it. The trained dress, with a long sweeping train that required the wearer to pick it up over the arm, was a particular feature of the 1870s, and it was closely tied to the bustle.

The Natural Form, 1878 to 1881

The first bustle collapsed at the end of the 1870s, and the fashion of the late 1870s and early 1880s turned to the slim, sheath-like natural form. The waist, instead of being cinched in just under the bust, dropped to a point just above the hips, and the skirt fell in a slim line from shoulder to hem, with little artificial support and a minimum of trimming. The “Healthy Girl” silhouette of the early 1880s, with its straight line from shoulder to hem, was a deliberate reaction against the heaped draperies of the 1870s.

The Second Bustle, 1883 to 1889

The second bustle of the 1880s returned in exaggerated form, supported by a half-cage of steel and wire that projected almost at right angles from the small of the back. The structure of the 1880s bustle was often more than a foot from front to back, and the dress was draped, swagged, and trimmed at the back to make the most of it. The trained dress returned, and the ball dress and the evening dress in particular were notable for the volume of fabric carried at the back.

The second bustle declined rapidly at the end of the 1880s, and by the early 1890s the structure had shrunk to a small pad, as fashionable attention shifted to the great leg-of-mutton sleeves and flared skirts of the new decade.

The Decline of the Bustle

The bustle did not, however, disappear entirely. A small pad survived through the 1890s to support the back of the skirt, and the rounded silhouette of the turn of the century retained a gentle fullness behind. But the great structures of the 1870s and 1880s were never revived, and the bustle passed into history as one of the most extreme silhouettes of Western fashion.

The Legacy of the Bustle

The bustle was the subject of a long-running satire. The satirical magazines of the period, including Punch, Fun, Judy, and the Illustrated London News, all carried cartoons of the bustle, mocking its size, its shape, its impracticality, and its dangers. The bustle was also the subject of debate in the medical profession, with doctors warning of the dangers of tight lacing, of heavy bustles, and of the heat and the cold that the bustle produced. The legacy of the bustle is examined in Victorian Fashion and Dress.