Welcome to this weekās FRIDAY FASHION FACT! Todayās topic is another one that I have been asked about several times. To put it simply: Hoop skirts- aka cage crinolines- how did women function in them?
To create volume in their skirts pre-cage crinolines, women would add layers of petticoats under their dresses, particularly stiff petticoats made of horse hair called crinolines. Bands of cord were sewn around to add further shape. By the late 1840s, achieving a fashionably large skirt required so many layers of petticoats that it became difficult for women to function, due both to the weight and to the bulk around their legs.
In 1850, the cage crinoline was invented. There were several styles invented around the same time, made out of different materials such as steel and cane. This made skirts significantly wider, as well as much lighter, and took the bulk off of womenās legs, allowing for easier movement.
The best analogy is compare functioning in a hoop skirt to functioning in stilettos. As a child, you might wear little half inch high mary janes. As you grow older, you gradually wear higher and thinner heels, as you become accustomed to the balancing thatās required. By the time youāre an adult, you can (relatively) comfortably wear a pair of heels for the full work day without falling over. Women simply were use to moving around with the cage surrounding them. Hoop skirts, like heels, came in different sizes. Most women today would not wear their highest stiletto every day- they are reserved for special occasions. Mid-19th Century women would only wear their fullest hoops to formal events. This is partially because large hoops were less practical, but also because larger hoops required more skirt fabric to accommodate them. Fabric was very expensive at the time, and the expense would not be wasted on an average day dress.
There were times, though, when hoop skirts were not practical. To run the shoe analogy into the ground, sometimes a woman just needs to take off the heels. As shown in the above picture, for example, women might take off their hoops in order to fit into a small carriage. Lower class, working women would not wear hoops at all, and would carry on the old fashioned tradition of just wearing layers of petticoats so that their skirts were not as full, as you can see on the ladies maids in the background of the top photo series.
Finally, people always ask how women would sit in hoop skirts. You might think, wouldnāt the whole thing just flip up? And the answer is yes! Wardrobe malfunctions were frequent, causing the cage crinoline to be constantly ridiculed and mocked as the subject of cartoons in newspapers and magazines. Cage crinolines were built to be collapsible, though, with a space in the front to allow bending at the waist. As you can see in the above images, if a woman sat carefully, the hoops would fold up neatly.
Want to learn more about cage crinolines? Check out these books:
Corsets and Crinolines, by Norah Waugh
The History of Underclothes, by C. Willett and Phillis Cunnington
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