Victorian Fashion - Bustling Around

During the 1880's women kept a very high and peculiar profile...

Probably no fashion of the Victorian Age is as difficult for the modern viewer to understand as the bustle, the dominant form of the 1880's. It was clearly impractical, it can't have been comfortable, and it looks preposterous. In some ways it seems the perfect illustration of Oscar Wilde's quip, "Fashion is something so ugly it has to change every six months," except that the bustle reigned for almost a decade. Without a doubt, it was the most fascinating, silhouette of the Victorian era.

What could have possessed designers to create, and women to adopt, a fashion so extreme? Ironically, this wildly irrational form, which made skirts ever fuller at the back and required ever sturdier and more complicated underpinnings, came into prominence at the same time as what was called "the Rational Dress Reform Movement", a minor tremor in the growing agitation for women's rights.

One of the Movement's goals was to free women from the restrictions imposed on them by clothing created solely to attract men. It advocated alternatives to conventional fashion that varied from very long tunics over loose "Turkish" trousers. to more traditional dresses that could be worn without corsets, and ankle-length skirts that would make walking easy.

Although the Movement's suggestions were ridiculed by men and generally ignored by women, they reflected some important social changes. During the 1880's, members of the "weaker sex" were permitted to enjoy many outdoor activities and sports that had previously been restricted to men. Ladies now went yachting, they fenced, and they literally paddled their own canoes. But they did so in clothing that was hardly different from ordinary daytime dress. Some details were simplified, some trimmings completely eliminated from sportswear. But a fashionable woman still appeared on the tennis court or on the deck of a yacht as she did in the drawing room when she paid a formal call --- hatted, gloved and wearing a corset and bustle under the only sort of costume deemed appropriate for that particular activity. Bustles, which first made their appearance in the late 1860's and became a rage in the early 1870's, had completely disappeared by 1880. That year the fashionable lady dressed in a manner calculated to delight even the most chauvinistic of males. A stylish woman was poured into a long, pointed, tightly fitted bodice that nipped in her waist and exaggerated the fullness of her bosom. The skirt below was closely fitted, with frills and ruffles that swayed seductively when she moved.

Within a couple of years, however, skirts had widened noticeably. Women discovered that the bustle gave them more freedom of movement than either the huge, unwieldy crinolines of the 1860's or the hobble- skirted fashions of the late 1870's. Still, one could hardly describe a lady in a bustled skirt as liberated. The weight of her clothing and the complicated structures worn underneath all hampered her movements.

Furthermore, many of the most popular materials of the period were heavy, upholstery-like fabrics: plush, deep-pile velvet, brocaded silk and satin figured in velvet. Summer costumes were made of lighter materials, like silk, printed muslin, and colorful cottons embellished with white embroidery. But the profusion of beads, fringe, braid and other trimmings dictated by fashion added their considerable weight to every outfit. A winter dress could easily weigh 20 pounds or more. Gowns for summer were lighter but required the same underpinnings.

The bustle was known by several other names, including "dress improver" and tournure," both considered much more elegant by the better sort of ladies' magazines. Whatever it was called, it evolved year by year. Starting in 1881, tunics that were looped into puffs over each hip began making skirts wider. These puffs were called panniers in France, pompadours in England, curtain drapery in America--and racily described as "hip bags" by slangy young women everywhere.

In the 1880's, fashion, like furniture, was well padded and heavily ornamented. Dresses were almost always made with two skirts, one draped over the other. Several fabrics in complementary colors, patterns, weights and textures, were generally combined in a single garment, which was then accented with chenille fringe, lace gathered into bows. After 1885, the details that left a woman's figure as cluttered as her parlor went out of style for daytime, but evening gowns were still highly decorated, often with elaborate beaded embroidery.

Color was generally rich and varied. Pale hues were preferred for evening: The lighter the tint the more elegant the gown", said Queen Magazine in 1883. Summer dresses were often made in white combined with red, blue or pink. The rest of the year ladies wore shades of blue, brown, olive and even chartreuse---a stout, middle-aged lady in a chartreuse dress with a bustle must have been a memorable sight. But the favorite color of the period was red, preferably in wine and jewel tones. A dress might be made or two materials, such as satin and velvet, both in the same shade of claret, garnet, crimson or plum. Whatever their color, daytime dresses were frequently adorned with lace jabots or lace cravats. The waterfalls of lace that adorned skirts, collars and bodices were often coffee-colored.

In contrast to the fullness below, bodices of gowns with bustles were closely fitted, so that a lady's corseted waist was made to look even smaller by comparison. "Waistcoat" or vest fronts came into fashion around 1883 and remained chic for another five years, adding yet another element of fussiness and complexity to a lady's costume, since they were often made in a color or fabric that contrasted with the rest of the bodice. As late as 1887, Lady's World Magazine reported, "Their outline still meets us at every turn."

During the day, necklines were generally quite high and close, often marked by a stand-up collar. Eveningwear, however, was distinguished by low necklines.

Fashionable ball gowns of the 1880's had deep V-line necks or coy coy heart shapes. In England and on the continent, decolletage was quite extreme. Puritanical Americans either had their gowns cut more discreetly, or filled them in with lengths of lace that were often referred to as "modesty panels."

Accessories were generally kept fairly simple. Hair was swept and away from the face at the sides and back. Many women copied bangs worn by Alexandra, Princess of Wales, just as they would copy hairstyles worn by Princess Diana a century later. Most hats bonnets were relatively small and worn off the face to showcase this regal hairdo. Boots closed with buttons and daytime shoes with laces. Evening shoes were made of fabric to match the dress, with curved "Louis" heels inspired by shoes worn at court before the French Revolution.

From France, too, came the style that would replace the bustle after almost a decades's reign. In 1888, the actress Sarah Bernhardt starred in a new play, "La Tosca." The divine Sarah galvanized audiences by appearing onstage in high-waisted, uncorseted Empire Gowns. Although their shape was too radical to catch on, they made undraped skirts imaginable for the first time in years. Change had probably become inevitable anyway. The bustle had gone as far as it could go, finally reaching what was called the "tea-table" stage, when it was so prominentit could supposedly hold a full cup of tea without spilling a drop!

By 1889, Women's World Magazine reported: "Our best dressed women...eschew draper, even sashes, but accept the plain falling skirts, just as they are, with no dress improver and often with no steel...." Another observer remarked, "This season there have been more radical changes in fashion than in any other for the past 20 years. We have given up improvers, steels, most skirt draperies and almost completely altered the cut of cress bodices. "The era of the hourglass figure and the Gibson Girl glimmered on the horizon. The Age of the Bustle, surely one of fashion's strangest creations, was over.

Written By: Nancy Britton
This Article Originally appeared in VICTORIAN DECORATING MAGAZINE, Issue #34