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 1880’s, although the latter would add a train and more on the bottom. One can only guess that was because a decade later, fabric, trim, and clothing was much cheaper and easier to obtain – plus fabric was wider than the 22-26″ available in the 18th century, so the 19th century designers could put a lot more back there.