thats-not-victorian - Tumblr blog

[thats-not-victorian]

Welcome to this week’s FRIDAY FASHION FACT! Today’s topic is another one that I have been asked about several times. To put it simply: Hoop skirts- aka cage crinolines- how did women function in them?

To create volume in their skirts pre-cage crinolines, women would add layers of petticoats under their dresses, particularly stiff petticoats made of horse hair called crinolines. Bands of cord were sewn around to add further shape. By the late 1840s, achieving a fashionably large skirt required so many layers of petticoats that it became difficult for women to function, due both to the weight and to the bulk around their legs.

In 1850, the cage crinoline was invented. There were several styles invented around the same time, made out of different materials such as steel and cane. This made skirts significantly wider, as well as much lighter, and took the bulk off of women’s legs, allowing for easier movement.

The best analogy is compare functioning in a hoop skirt to functioning in stilettos. As a child, you might wear little half inch high mary janes. As you grow older, you gradually wear higher and thinner heels, as you become accustomed to the balancing that’s required. By the time you’re an adult, you can (relatively) comfortably wear a pair of heels for the full work day without falling over. Women simply were use to moving around with the cage surrounding them. Hoop skirts, like heels, came in different sizes. Most women today would not wear their highest stiletto every day- they are reserved for special occasions. Mid-19th Century women would only wear their fullest hoops to formal events. This is partially because large hoops were less practical, but also because larger hoops required more skirt fabric to accommodate them. Fabric was very expensive at the time, and the expense would not be wasted on an average day dress.

There were times, though, when hoop skirts were not practical. To run the shoe analogy into the ground, sometimes a woman just needs to take off the heels. As shown in the above picture, for example, women might take off their hoops in order to fit into a small carriage. Lower class, working women would not wear hoops at all, and would carry on the old fashioned tradition of just wearing layers of petticoats so that their skirts were not as full, as you can see on the ladies maids in the background of the top photo series.

Finally, people always ask how women would sit in hoop skirts. You might think, wouldn’t the whole thing just flip up? And the answer is yes! Wardrobe malfunctions were frequent, causing the cage crinoline to be constantly ridiculed and mocked as the subject of cartoons in newspapers and magazines. Cage crinolines were built to be collapsible, though, with a space in the front to allow bending at the waist. As you can see in the above images, if a woman sat carefully, the hoops would fold up neatly.

Want to learn more about cage crinolines? Check out these books:

Corsets and Crinolines, by Norah Waugh

The History of Underclothes, by C. Willett and Phillis Cunnington

Have a question about fashion history that you want answered in the next FRIDAY FASHION FACT? Just click the ASK button at the top of the page!

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What is up with "thy," "thou," "thee," and "thine"?

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Art nouveau: Them fuckers who do the swirlieboops.

Art deco: Them fuckers who do the block-ee-blonks.

[thats-not-victorian]

Gah!  Ok, end of semester means basically no time to really dedicate to this blog, and I've gotten a few asks (and some responses to that last Marie Antoinette thing) that I haven't gotten to yet, but bear with!  I will get to them ASAP, I am not purposely ignoring anyone!!

[thats-not-victorian]

Hey ! Do you know why people from the US are so into Marie Antoinette ? I'm French, and my only thought on her is "so happy the little bitch was beheaded." But americans seems to be so fond of her ! Any idea why ? Also, i love your tumblr, and there's another things that make me crazy on tumblr : post about french revolution with gif from Les Misérables. seriously. La prise de la Bastille was in 1789. Les MIsérables were during a riot in 1832. Not the same thing.

I couldn’t really tell you why people are obsessed with her, other than, if you dig into her life and history, she actually seems to have been a pretty cool person (not to mention the fashion at the time was pretty sweet). It appears you have some animosity towards her, and that might be in part to the general media’s portrayal and attitude toward her (which I bet stems from a combination of her being both upper class/aristocratic and a woman), but then, I’m not French and she isn’t exactly part of my national history.  I know it’s easy to look at the French Revolution in a very stark, cut-and-dry, good-guys-vs-bad-guys light, and the aristocracy during that time would have been the “bad guys,” but there are very few, if any, instances in history where that would be the case.  

With that in mind, from what I can tell, she wasn’t just some rich, snobbish "bitch" who spat at the very idea of the poor, but instead was quite considerate of their plight (if that is indeed where your attitude towards her comes from).  I am nowhere near an expert on her, and often have to rely on my Tumblr friends, just as in this instance.  

If you would like to learn more about her, tiny-librarian and vivelareine are both very good sources on here.

[thats-not-victorian]

omg thank you so muche for your tumblr

I know, historical fashion confusion isn’t just limited to the Victorian era, and it’s a shame :/  Glad there are others out there who feel the same way, though!

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Hi. I just recently started reading your blog and I've really enjoyed. I never really knew how much of what I thought of as "Victorian" wasn't. Anyway, I wanted to ask if you're familiar with the Japanese manga "Emma: A Victorian Romance" (there's also a animated version). I think its pretty accurate in its portrayal of Victorian life and the artist who made it has admitted to being an anglophile. But I wanted a second opinion. I hope you get the time to look at it. Thanks.

So somehow I missed this ask—I didn’t mean to respond nearly a week later!

I actually am not familiar with that manga (there are very few manga/anime I am familiar with—not that I actively avoid them, but, much like comics, there are just SO MANY I don’t even know where to start), however a quick Google Images search shows that for what I can tell it seems fairly accurate.  Or at the very least it’s not overwhelmingly inaccurate.  

[thats-not-victorian]

PRETTY FLY FOR A WHITE GUY: a mix for icarus, history’s greatest downfall

“guy’s i’m gonna get so hella tanned” — icarus, probably

breaking free high school musical 

i believe i can fly r kelly 

defying gravity wicked 

wind beneath my wings bette midler 

here comes the sun the beatles 

timber pitbull feat. ke$ha 

drop it like it’s hot snoop dogg feat. pharrell williams 

it’s raining men the weather girls

{ listen }

[thats-not-victorian]

[thats-not-victorian]

I decided it was finally time I did one of these. I follow so many fabulous people, I decided to force myself down to the top ten or I’d be here all day. So please don’t get offended, I love you all desperately and I also apologize for my awful graphic skills! Without further ado, go take a look under the cut at all the amazing people! (Under said cut because of length and gifs)

Read More

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If Franz Ferdinand didn’t want to be assassinated, he probably shouldn’t have written a song called “Take Me Out”.

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An Alphabet of Celebrities, 1899

THIS WHOLE THING DELIGHTS ME

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A guide to Elizabethan handwriting.

Source: Daily Life in Elizabethan England by Jeffrey L. Forgeng

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Tonight was historic. And for the wrong reason.

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How I Flirt

Me: Hey did you know that Marie Antoinette didn't really say let them eat cake?

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