Crinoline Hoop Skirt

VC1992157

Crinoline Hoop Skirt

Hoop skirt of fabric tapes and wire; hoops of watch spring covered with webbing held together with metal tabs

1865 (circa)

Clothing and dress

26 inches (waist), 34 inches (center front length), 89 inches (hem circumference),

leather

metal

webbing

Physical Object

United States

1850s

1860s

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VC1992157

Arden Kirkland 12/5/1992

26

34

89

26 inches (waist), 34 inches (center front length), 89 inches (hem circumference),

'cage crinoline with patent drawstring'Waugh, 114 (1866)also p. 120 and 121 (1865-66)Bradfield, 202 (1864-7)Collard, plate before p.24 (1865)

1850

1860

American

womenswear

costume

clothing

Underwear

underwear

Vassar Girls and Other Women

Costume historian James Laver has created the theory of the shifting erogenous zone, through which any part of a woman's body can take on sexual significance, as long as the portion emphasized shifts continuously to keep men interested. For example, a woman's legs have taken on important sexual significance even though they are not biologically sexual. As a form of modesty, a woman's legs were mostly concealed until the twentieth century. Yet we must consider the possibility that the act of hiding something makes it even more attractive. The full length skirts of the nineteenth century, and particularly the crinoline skirts of the 1860's, such as this one (this was the style worn by the earliest Vassar students), are a good example of this. While supposedly hiding the full length of the wearer's legs, 'The swinging of the crinoline imparted a new, flirtatious aspect to women's dress, although it was the size that attracted most attention. . .' (Valerie Steele. Fashion and Eroticism: Ideals of Feminine Beauty from the Victorian Era to the Jazz Age. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985 p. 59). Keeping this image of the swinging crinoline in mind, it is important to consider that 'By the 60's [1860's] drawers were accepted by the middle classes as a necessary adjunct to the crinoline, but they were not generally used by the lower orders until the '80's,' (C. Willett Cunnington. English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century. New York: Dover Publications, 1937. p. 21). Cunnington describes a story told by Lord Cowley, the English ambassador in Paris during the visit of King Victor Emmanuel in 1855, in his Memoirs. ' ... at a state reception a lady-in-waiting had the misfortune to trip over her crinoline skirt and tumble headlong in view of the Imperial party, whereupon the King exclaimed with enthusiasm to the Empress: 'I am delighted to see, Madame, that your ladies do not wear les caleçons, and that the gates of Paradise are always open. (C. Willett Cunnington. English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century: New York: Dover Publications, 1937. p. 21).

1992.157

E1

Vassar College Costume Collection, Drama Department, 124 Raymond Avenue, Poughkeepsie, NY 12604

9hoop skirt, c. 18651992.157Costume historian James Laver has created the theory of the shifting erogenous zone, through which any part of a woman's body can take on sexual significance, as long as the portion emphasized shifts continuously to keep men interested. For example, a woman's legs have taken on important sexual significance even though they are not biologically sexual. As a form of modesty, a woman's legs were mostly concealed until the twentieth century. Yet we must consider the possibility that the act of hiding something makes it even more attractive. The full length skirts of the nineteenth century, and particularly the crinoline skirts of the 1860's, such as this one (this was the style worn by the earliest Vassar students), are a good example of this. While supposedly hiding the full length of the wearer's legs, 'The swinging of the crinoline imparted a new, flirtatious aspect to women's dress, although it was the size that attracted most attention. . .' (Valerie Steele. Fashion and Eroticism: Ideals of Feminine Beauty from the Victorian Era to the Jazz Age. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985 p. 59). Keeping this image of the swinging crinoline in mind, it is important to consider that 'By the 60's [1860's] drawers were accepted by the middle classes as a necessary adjunct to the crinoline, but they were not generally used by the lower orders until the '80's,' (C. Willett Cunnington. English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century. New York: Dover Publications, 1937. p. 21). Cunnington describes a story told by Lord Cowley, the English ambassador in Paris during the visit of King Victor Emmanuel in 1855, in his Memoirs. ' ... at a state reception a lady-in-waiting had the misfortune to trip over her crinoline skirt and tumble headlong in view of the Imperial party, whereupon the King exclaimed with enthusiasm to the Empress: 'I am delighted to see, Madame, that your ladies do not wear les caleçons, and that the gates of Paradise are always open. (C. Willett Cunnington. English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century: New York: Dover Publications, 1937. p. 21).

hoop skirt