.. fashion. So far we have discussed the corset (longer, cinching, different shape), the skirt (becoming assymetrical with fullness in the back and a smooth front), dyes (synthetic), methods (in home sewing machine), and designers (“Haute Couture” out of Paris creating “new” lines under directives of royalty like Eugenie of …
Come see Gals in costume ensembles at the Folk Festival August 3 & 4, 2019 in Thermopolis, Wyoming! The theme is “Herstory”; exactly what we’ve been telling in our shows and interpretations. Look for Shelly King, master storyteller in her “Titanic” ensemble. Copy/paste: http://wyomingfolkfestival.com/
.. when light understructures and draping slimmed down the silhouette for about 3 years. The “natural form” era between the mid-1870’s 1st bustle era, and the 2nd one only looked good on long, tall, lean, and young women, so didn’t last very long, although this is the style most often …
Here’s your 1876 bustle in action in this tintype of “Lady Liberty” costume celebrating America’s day of Independence.
.. heavier, stiffer, and began to form the shape of the dress. This was called the “first bustle era” which would come and go pretty quickly between the mid 1870’s until about 1879 when they would disappear in favor of lightweight “tournures” during the natural form era, and then reappear …
… the “crinolette” evolved away from just keeping the drapes away from the back of the legs, into a shaping structure in themselves. Different designs accomplished different things; a crinolette, still considered a transition between the earlier crinoline and the bustle to come, was getting stronger and stiffer. They were …
.. to be hung over the rear than could a simple stuffed pad, thus allowing long trains and skirts that dragged. The early bustles were “crinolettes”, which still had pads over the rear end, but added metal loops covered with fabric. Early crinolettes were specifically designed to just hold the …
.. a false “rump”, almost always some stadium cushion like pillow over the rear end. While the earlier 18th century “farthingale” (think bicycle rim around your waist) was metal and structured, it was not nearly the engineering accomplishment of the many types of early bustles in the first bustle era …
Parisian designers at the time, with wealthy and influential patrons like the Queen of England and Empress of France were certainly initiating the changing styles, but in reality, the world had seen quite a bit of this before. The various “rump” and “polonaise” styles of the 1780’s reappeared by the …
