History's Runway: Thomson's Empress Cage Crinoline, 1865-8

Cage Crinoline
Thomsons' Empress, 1865-68
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The word “crinoline” was first used to describe petticoats that were lined with horsehair cloth in the 1840s. At this time, women often wore crinolines with up to eight petticoats in order to  support the fashionable, but cumbersome wide skirts which were popular. Sometimes an additional layer of padding had to be added to the lot to give the correct shape.

By 1856, skirts grew even wider.  This meant that the weight of the required petticoats became very uncomfortable. A number of attempts were made to remedy this and a variety of contraptions were invented--including petticoats made from inflatable rubber tubes.

The best solution came about when the “artificial” or “cage” crinoline first appeared in1857. Made of spring steel hoops that increased in diameter towards the bottom, the cage crinoline served to support a wide skirt without weighing down the wearer.   The number of hoops ranged from 9 to 18 depending on the formality of the dress. Sometimes the hoops even had hinges so that getting through doorways and up stairs was less cumbersome.

This crinoline frame consists of a braid covered watch-spring steel which is slotted through six wool braid vertical bands. The shaped waist-band is made of red cotton and there are two cotton waist tapes. The cage crinoline became even more popular when ladies and men alike realized that the sway of the cage would allow a brief, alluring glimpse of an ankle or stockings. 

This was made in Britain between 1865 and 1868 by W.S. & E.H. Thomson.