By Carole Fornachon of the Blandford Fashion Museum

With the current spotlight on “lockdown loungewear” and haute couture producing elastic waisted fashions it is interesting to consider the weight Victorian women had to bear every day.

Changing fashions in the 1840s reflected the rejection of all forms of work if you were a ‘lady’. A court dress might cost £300 when an average man’s wages was less than £1 a week. Sleeve openings grew larger and larger, making hands appear tiny, symbols of helplessness and gentility.

Up to 14 petticoats would create a domed skirt. Walking, climbing stairs and sitting became difficult, like wading through water. Hems became dirty as raising the skirt too far above the ankle was impolite. Skirts became bigger and bigger. People first used the word ‘crinoline’ to describe petticoats lined with horsehair cloth in the 1840s. Women often wore them with up to eight petticoats.

By 1856, Henry Bessemer perfected a method of making sprung
steel on a large
scale and they
became a mass
fashion – much
lighter than
petticoats. Other
designs attempted
to solve this
problem,
including petticoats made from inflatable rubber tubes. These were a failure owing to unexpected punctures.

Devices were invented to make sitting down easy. Sometimes the hoops even had hinges to make it easier for women to go through doorways and upstairs. It went suddenly out of fashion in 1868 not least because of the dangers to the wearers. Reports of death by burning and charges of infanticide for those who had attempted to conceal pregnancies under their hoops, tight laced corsets and wide skirts.

Corset ‘moulding’ began at an early age. Girls of ten and eleven were put into them, often wearing them at night. Whilst a 15 or 18-inch waist was often claimed, most ordinary people had waists of 20 inches upwards. The “health corset” (on display in the Fashion Museum) was claimed to prevent downward pressure on the abdomen. It threw the bust forward and the hips back which created the impossible shapes for women of the time that we so often see in films, magazines and journals.

Come and see all these fashions in the museum. We hope to open on May 17 two days a week – fingers crossed. Watch our Facebook page for details.

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