Editing Crinoline (section)

==Late 19th century==
[[File:Woman's Cage Crinoline LACMA M.2007.211.380.jpg|thumb|upright|Cage crinoline with steel hoops, 1865 ([[Los Angeles County Museum of Art|LACMA]])]]

===1850s–60s===
The cage crinoline made out of [[spring steel]] wire was first introduced in the 1850s, with the earliest British patent for a metal crinoline (described as a "skeleton petticoat of steel springs fastened to tape") granted in July 1856.<ref name=alison45>[https://books.google.com/books?id=dg7DAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA45 Gernsheim], p. 45</ref><ref name=breward>[https://books.google.com/books?id=MpEwlPqTwnAC&pg=PA157 Breward, pp. 157–160]</ref> Alison Gernsheim suggests that the unidentified French inventor was probably R. C. Milliet of [[Besançon]], as the July 1856 patent was filed by their British agent, C. Amet.<ref name=alison45/> Milliet had already patented a {{lang|fr|'tournure de femme'}} in Paris on 24 April 1856 which was described as comprising "elastic extensible circles joined together by vertical bands."<ref name=alison45/> Following its introduction, the women's rights advocate [[Amelia Bloomer]] felt that her concerns about the hampering nature of multiple petticoats had been resolved, and dropped dress reform as an issue.<ref name=dalleva>[https://books.google.com/books?id=EFI7tr9XK6EC&pg=PA243 D'Alleva], p. 243</ref> Diana de Marly, in her biography of the couturier [[Charles Frederick Worth]], noted that by 1858 there existed steel factories catering solely to crinoline manufacturers, and shops that sold nothing else but crinolines.<ref>de Marly, p. 76</ref> One of the most significant manufacturers of crinolines was that of Thomson & Co., founded by an American with branches across Europe and the United States. At the height of their success, up to four thousand crinolines were produced by Thomson's London factory in a day, whilst another plant in [[Saxony]] manufactured 9.5 million crinolines over a twelve-year period.<ref name=alison46>[https://books.google.com/books?id=dg7DAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA46 Gernsheim], p. 46</ref> In 1859, the New York factory, which employed about a thousand girls, used {{convert|300000|yard}} of steel wire every week to produce between three and four thousand crinolines per day, while the rival Douglas & Sherwood factory in [[Manhattan]] used one ton of steel each week in manufacturing hoop skirts.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bxcL8PmV_ZwC&pg=PA45 Wosk], p. 45.</ref>

[[File:Dressing for the Ball in 1857, Punch's Pocket Book (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Inflatable crinoline. 1857 caricature by [[John Leech (caricaturist)|John Leech]] for ''Punch's Pocket Book'']]
The crinoline needed to be rigid enough to support the skirts in their accustomed shape, but also flexible enough to be temporarily pressed out of shape and spring back afterwards.<ref name=vam/> Other materials used for crinolines included [[whalebone]], [[gutta-percha]], and [[vulcanised]] [[caoutchouc]] (natural rubber).<ref name=whales>[https://books.google.com/books?id=KX5RAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA537 ''Crinoline and Whales''], Dublin University Magazine, pp. 537–538</ref> The idea of inflatable hoops was short-lived as they were easily punctured, prone to collapse, and due to the use of brimstone in the manufacture of rubber, they smelled unpleasant.<ref name=whales/> Although hard rubber hoops of gutta-percha worked satisfactorily at first, they were brittle and easily crushed without recovering their form.<ref name=whales/> Despite objections that the sharp points of snapped steels were hazardous,<ref name=whales/> lightweight steel was clearly the most successful option.<ref name=vam/> It reduced the number of petticoats and their weight, and offered increased freedom of movement of the legs.<ref name=vam/> However, hasty or careless movements in a hoop skirt could lead to accidentally revealing more than intended.<ref name=vam/> An advertisement published in ''The Lady's Newspaper'' in 1863 for a cage crinoline with waved hoops attempted to reassure the potential customer that while wearing it, activities such as climbing stairs, passing to her theatre seat, dropping into armchairs, and leaning against furniture would be possible without hindrance either to herself or to others around her.<ref>''The Lady's Newspaper'', 1863, [https://web.archive.org/web/20170214234431/http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/c/corsets-and-crinolines-in-victorian-fashion/ cited by Johnston]</ref>

[[File:Crinoline joke photograph sequence 04.jpg|thumb|Comic photograph, {{c.|1860}}]]
Despite some claims, such as that by the historian Max von Boehm, that the largest crinolines measured up to {{convert|10|yard|ft}} around, the photo-historian Alison Gernsheim concluded that the maximum realistic circumference was in fact between {{convert|5.5–6|yard}}.<ref name=alison47>[https://books.google.com/books?id=dg7DAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 Gernsheim], p. 47</ref> Whilst a loosely gathered skirt draped over a large hoop would certainly require a higher yardage, Gernsheim noted that {{convert|10|yard}} hems were highly improbable.<ref name=alison48>[https://books.google.com/books?id=dg7DAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA48 Gernsheim], p. 48</ref> Staged photographs showing women wearing exaggeratedly large crinolines were quite popular, such as a widely published sequence of five [[stereoscope]] views showing a woman dressing with the assistance of several maids who require long poles to lift her dress over her head and other ingenious means of navigating her enormous hoopskirt.<ref name=gins45>Ginsburg, p. 45</ref> Such photographs, which re-enacted contemporary caricatures rather than accurately reflecting reality, were aimed towards the [[voyeur]]'s market.<ref name=gins45/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Zeller |first1=Bob |title=The blue and gray in black and white: a history of Civil War photography |date=2005 |publisher=Praeger |location=Westport, Conn. [u.a.]|isbn=9780275982430|page=156|edition=1. publ.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IMUfEait_9AC&pg=PA156}}</ref> However, it was a fact that the size of the crinoline often caused difficulties in passing through doors, boarding carriages and generally moving about. By the late 1860s many crinolines were of a significantly reduced size, as noted by a [[Victoria and Albert Museum]] curator observing the sizes of cage crinolines in the museum's collection.<ref name=crinolettes/>

[[File:Crinolettes 1872-75.jpg|thumb|left|Two English crinolettes, 1872–75 (LACMA)]]

===Crinolettes and 1880s revival===
The crinoline began to fall out of fashion from about 1866. A modified version, the '''crinolette''', was a transitional garment bridging the gap between the cage crinoline and the bustle. Fashionable from 1867 through to the mid-1870s, the crinolette was typically composed of half-hoops, sometimes with internal lacing or ties designed to allow adjustment of fullness and shape.<ref name=crinolettes>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170806052437/http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/c/crinolines-crinolettes-bustles-corsets-1860-1880/ Johnston; ''Crinolines, Crinolettes, Bustles and Corsets'']</ref> The crinolette was still worn in the early 1880s, with an 1881 article describing it as sticking out solely behind, as opposed to projecting "hideously at the side" like the crinoline.<ref>Ewing, pp. 55–56."'The crinoline projected hideously at the side, whereas the crinolette will only stick out at the back', commented ''The World'' in July 1881"</ref> It is possible that some of the smaller crinolines that survive were worn in combination with separate bustles, rather than in isolation.<ref name=koda>[https://books.google.com/books?id=rL-19_S0-PMC&pg=PA130 Koda], pp. 130–133.</ref> During the 1880s the cage crinoline was revived, with hoop petticoats designed to accommodate the extremely large bustles of the period and support the skirt hems.<ref name=koda/> One of the mid-1880s styles was called the lobster pot due to its resemblance to a [[lobster trap]].<ref name=koda/> Due to the extreme weight of the fabrics of the decade, the hoops of the crinolines were crossed over each other behind the legs in order to support and hold the skirts firmly in place.<ref name=koda/> As with the earlier cage crinolines, sprung steel, wire and cane were used.<ref name=koda/>

===Critical response===
[[File:Maid and mistress in crinoline. Punch Almanack for 1862-2.png|thumb|Caricature showing a lady scolding her maid for wearing a crinoline. ''Punch'', 1862]]
Unlike the [[farthingale]]s and [[pannier (clothing)|panniers]], the crinoline was worn by women of every social class. The fashion swiftly became the subject of intense scrutiny in Western media.<ref name=palgrave>[https://books.google.com/books?id=r7dCBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA17 Maxwell, pp. 16–18]</ref><ref name=crinolinemania>[https://books.google.com/books?id=FhZBsN73AK8C&pg=PT91 Thomas], p. 91.</ref> Critical articles on the crinoline were published by the Hungarian journal {{lang|hu|Az Üstökös}} (1858) and the Bulgarian journalist [[Petko Slaveykov]] in 1864.<ref name=palgrave/> In the 1850s, the Welsh poet [[Dafydd Jones (Dewi Dywyll)|Dafydd Jones]] wrote a ballad decrying the fashion.<ref name=palgrave/><ref>{{cite web |title=Baled – 'Can Newydd, sef Fflangell Geiniog, i Chwipio y Cylchau o Beisiau y Merched y Crinolines' gan Dafydd Jones, tudalen 1 |url=http://education.gtj.org.uk/cy/item1/25265 |website=Culturenet Cymru |publisher=The National Library of Wales |access-date=11 June 2015 |language=cy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150612050248/http://education.gtj.org.uk/cy/item1/25265 |archive-date=12 June 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> A similar sentiment was expressed by a Russian song published in 1854, where the singer complains about his wife having assumed the fashion.<ref name=palgrave/> In 1855, an observer of [[Queen Victoria]]'s state visit to Paris complained that despite the number of foreigners present, Western fashions such as the crinoline had diluted national dress to such an extent that everyone, whether Turkish, Scottish, Spanish, or Tyrolean, dressed alike.<ref name=blau154>[https://books.google.com/books?id=YoAgKlO2dfgC&pg=PA154 Blau], p. 154</ref> Victoria herself is popularly said to have detested the fashion, inspiring a song in ''Punch'' that started: "Long live our gracious Queen/Who won't wear crinoline!"<ref name=alison44a>[https://books.google.com/books?id=dg7DAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA44 Gernsheim], p. 44. NB: Gernsheim misquotes the rhyme as "God Save our gracious Queen."</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Larcom Graves |first1=Charles |title=Mr. Punch's History of Modern England Vol. II—1857–1874 |date=2014 |publisher=Cassell & Company, Ltd |page=103|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=02aVBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT103}}</ref> Gernsheim has noted that the Queen was often photographed in crinolines, and suggests that this misunderstanding came from a request made by Victoria that female guests attending her [[Victoria, Princess Royal#Marriage|daughter's marriage]] in 1858 should leave their hoops off due to limited space in the Chapel Royal at [[St James's Palace]].<ref name=alison44/>

The crinoline was perceived as a signifier of social identity, with a popular subject for cartoons being that of [[maid]]s wearing crinolines like their mistresses, much to the higher-class ladies' disapproval.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=QRKOAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA111 Barnard], p. 111</ref> The questions of servants in crinoline and the related social concerns were raised by [[George Routledge]] in an etiquette manual published in 1875, where he criticised London housemaids for wearing hoops at work.<ref name=rout>[https://books.google.com/books?id=oTE9AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT127 Routledge], p. 127</ref> As the girls knelt to scrub the doorsteps, Routledge described how their hoops rose to expose their lower bodies, inspiring [[street harassment]] from [[courier|errand boy]]s and other male passers-by.<ref name=rout/> Routledge firmly opined that servants ought to save their fashionable garments for their leisure periods, and dress appropriately for their work.<ref name=rout/> However, this was challenged by some servants who saw attempts to control their dress as equivalent to controlling their liberty, and refused to work for employers who tried to forbid crinolines.<ref name=rout/>

[[File:Sarah Davies (née Forbes Bonetta).jpg|upright|thumb|[[Sarah Forbes Bonetta]] by [[Camille Silvy]], 1862]]
[[Arthur Munby]] observed that in the "barbarous locality" of [[Wigan]], the sight of a female [[colliery]] worker wearing trousers was "not half as odd as a woman wearing a crinoline."<ref name=dalleva/> In Australia, poorer rural women were photographed posing outside their [[slab hut]]s, wearing their best dresses with crinolines.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9IejqWWdxeoC&pg=PA111 Maynard], p. 111</ref> The French sociologist and economist [[Pierre Guillaume Frédéric le Play|Frédéric le Play]] carried out surveys of French working-class families' wardrobes from 1850 to 1875, in which he found that two women had crinolines in their wardrobe, both wives of skilled workers.<ref name=crane>[https://books.google.com/books?id=VT_r8GgEoKkC&pg=PA57 Crane], p. 57.</ref> One, the fashion-conscious wife of a glove-maker, owned two crinolines and eleven dresses, although her usual everyday clothing consisted of [[sabot (shoe)|wooden shoes]] and printed aprons.<ref name=crane/> In America, the mid-19th century crinoline has become popularly associated with the image of the [[Southern belle|Southern Belle]], a young woman from the American Deep South's upper socioeconomic, slave-owning [[Planter class|planter]] classes.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}} However, as in Europe and elsewhere, the crinoline was far from exclusively worn by wealthy women.<ref name=oedel>{{cite news|last1=Oedel|first1=Dave|title=Hoop Skirt Hoopla at UGA|url=http://maconmonitor.com/2015/03/21/hoop-skirt-hoopla-at-uga/|access-date=30 June 2015|work=Macon Monitor|date=21 March 2015}}</ref> Both black and white women in America of all classes and social standings wore hooped skirts, including First Lady [[Mary Todd Lincoln]] and her African-American dressmaker, [[Elizabeth Keckley]], who created many of Lincoln's own extravagant crinolines.<ref name=oedel/>

The difficulties associated with the garment, such as its size, the problems and hazards associated with wearing and moving about in it, and the fact that it was worn so widely by women of all social classes, were frequently exaggerated and parodied in satirical articles and illustrations such as those in ''[[Punch magazine|Punch]]''.<ref name=vam/><ref name=crinolinemania/> Alexander Maxwell has summarised crinoline mockery as expressing the male authors' insecurity and fears that women, whose crinolines took up "enough space for five," would eventually "conquer" mankind.<ref name=palgrave/> Julia Thomas, observing the extent of ''Punch'''s anti-crinoline sentiment and mockery, noted that the magazine's attacks, rather than crushing the fashion, exacerbated and even invented the phenomenon of "crinolinemania."<ref name=crinolinemania/>

====Hazards====
[[File:Women wearing crinolines set on fire, ca. 1860, lithograph Wellcome V0048935.jpg|left|thumb|upright|A crinoline fire, {{c.|1860}}]]
The flammability of the crinoline was widely reported. Although trustworthy statistics on crinoline-related fatalities are rare, [[Florence Nightingale]] estimated that at least 630 women died from their clothes catching fire in 1863–1864.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mitchell |first1=Rebecca N. |title=15 August 1862: The Rise and Fall of the Cage Crinoline |url=http://www.branchcollective.org/?ps_articles=rebecca-n-mitchell-15-august-1862-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-cage-crinoline |website=BRANCH: Britain, Representation, and Nineteenth-Century History |access-date=24 February 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Nightingale |first1=Florence |title=Notes on Nursing for the Labouring Classes |date=1876 |publisher=Harrison |location=London |page=42 |edition=New |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fDLvARQRq0YC&q=nightingale+%22notes+on+nursing%22+with+a+chapter+children}}</ref> One such incident, the death of a 14-year-old kitchenmaid called Margaret Davey was reported in ''[[The Times]]'' on 13 February 1863. Her dress, "distended by a crinoline," ignited as she stood on the fender of the [[fireplace]] to reach some spoons on the mantelpiece, and she died as a result of extensive burns. The Deputy-Coroner, commenting that he was "astonished to think that the mortality from such a fashion was not brought more conspicuously under the notice of the Registrar-General," passed a verdict of "Accidental death by fire, caused through crinoline."<ref>{{cite news|title=DEATH BY FIRE |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2561578/the_times/ |access-date=6 June 2015 |work=The Times |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |page=5 |issue=24481, column F |date=13 February 1863}}.</ref> A similar case was reported later that year, when 16-year-old Emma Musson died after a piece of burning [[coke (fuel)|coke]] rolled from the kitchen fire to ignite her crinoline.<ref>{{cite news|title=BURNT TO DEATH|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2561633/the_times/ |access-date=6 June 2015 |work=The Times |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |page=5 |issue=24716, column D |date=14 November 1863}}.</ref> A month later, on 8 December 1863, a [[Church of the Company Fire|serious fire]] at the Church of the Company of Jesus in [[Santiago]], Chile, killed between two and three thousand people. The severity of the death toll is credited in part to the large amounts of flammable fabric that made up the women's crinoline dresses.<ref name=alison47/> Two notable victims of crinoline fires were [[William Wilde]]'s illegitimate daughters, Emily and Mary, who died in November 1871 of burns sustained after their gowns caught fire.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pearce |first1=Joseph |title=The unmasking of Oscar Wilde |date=2001 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=London |isbn=978-0002740517|page=43}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=White|first1=Terence de Vere|title=The Parents of Oscar Wilde: Sir William and Lady Wilde|url=https://archive.org/details/parentsofoscarwi0000whit|url-access=registration|date=1967|publisher=Hodder and Stoughton|page=[https://archive.org/details/parentsofoscarwi0000whit/page/216 216]}}</ref> Although flame-retardant fabrics were available, these were thought unattractive and were unpopular.<ref name=kingston>{{Cite journal|author=Anne Kingston|title=Deadly Victorian fashions| journal=Maclean's|date=9 June 2014|url=http://www.macleans.ca/culture/arts/deadly-victorian-fashions/}}</ref>

Other risks associated with the crinoline were that it could get caught in other people's feet, carriage wheels or furniture, or be caught by sudden gusts of wind, blowing the wearer off her feet.<ref name=alison47/> In 1859, while participating in a [[Paper Chase (game)|paper chase]], [[Louisa Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire|Louisa, Duchess of Manchester]], caught her hoop while climbing over a [[stile]], and was left with the entirety of her crinoline and skirts thrown over her head, revealing her scarlet [[bloomers (clothing)|drawers]] to the assembled company.<ref name=alison47/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Vane |first1=Henry |title=Affair of state: a biography of the 8th Duke and Duchess of Devonshire |date=2004 |publisher=Peter Owen |location=London |isbn=9780720612332 |page=[https://archive.org/details/affairofstatebio0000vane/page/25 25] |url=https://archive.org/details/affairofstatebio0000vane/page/25 }}</ref>

The crinoline was worn by some factory workers, leading to the textiles firm [[Courtaulds]] instructing female employees in 1860 to leave their hoops and crinolines at home.<ref name=vam>[http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/c/corsets-and-crinolines-in-victorian-fashion/ ''Corsets and Crinoline'']</ref> [[Cecil Willett Cunnington]] described seeing a photograph of female employees in the [[Bryant and May]] match factories wearing crinolines while at work.<ref name=cun207>Cunnington, p. 207</ref> A report in ''[[The Cork Examiner]]'' of 2 June 1864 recorded the death of Ann Rollinson from injuries sustained after her crinoline was caught by a revolving machinery shaft in a [[mangle (machine)|mangling room]] at Firwood bleach works.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Staff writer|title=Machinery Accident through Crinoline|url=http://www.irelandoldnews.com/Cork/1864/JUN.html|access-date=7 June 2015|work=The Cork Examiner|date=2 June 1864}}</ref>