.. was worn with a dress that had much less drapery and fabric than the many decades before. While the structure was huge, the dress itself was slimmer, more fitted to the body, and the bodices was much more severely tailored to fit than those of 1879-1882.
(Sketches: Both from “Godey’s Lady’s Book”, (left) 1881 heavy draping vs (right) the new BIG bustle in 1884)