.. as Queen Victoria and designer Charles Worth of the time called wearing the appropriate clothing for the activity.. was the well – fitted tournure or bustle. Designed to expand the skirt of the dress below the waist, the bustle was THE required item for several decades.
Various styles were made from wires, springs, mohair pads, fabric, and sometimes lace (although that looked pretty strange on the carpentry of these contraptions.) The “tournure”, or “turning” bustle which was made of layers of horsehair in strips twisted and turning was used in the natural form era of the late 1870’s. It was no longer strong enough to hold up the heavy fabrics or volume of draping of the 1880’s.
(Sketch: bustles of the 1880’s)