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crinoline noun 1 historical a stiffened or hooped petticoat worn to make a long skirt stand out. 2 a stiff fabric made of horsehair and cotton or linen thread, typically used for stiffening petticoats or as a lining. ORIGIN mid 19th cent. (originally in sense 2 , early crinolines being made of such material): from French, formed irregularly from Latin crinis ‘hair’ + linum ‘thread.’

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farthingale noun historical a hooped petticoat or circular pad of fabric around the hips, formerly worn under women's skirts to extend and shape them. ORIGIN early 16th cent.(formerly also as vardingale): from French verdugale, alteration of Spanish verdugado, from verdugo ‘rod, stick,’ from verde ‘green.’

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The History of the Crinoline

The crinoline was not the first accessory designed to support the wearer's skirts in the correct shape; the farthingale was worn in the seventeenth century and panniers in the eighteenth century. However, these very formal and elaborate styles were only worn at royal courts and in the highest levels of society.
After the French Revolution, French fashion turned against the elaborate styles favoured by royalty, the court, and the aristocracy. As Parisian fashion was very influential, most western European countries adopted the same styles.
Under the prevailing neoclassical influence, women’s fashions had adopted a simple style based on the simple draped garments of Ancient Greece and the togas of ancient Rome. Skirts were straight and slender, and worn with very few — if any — petticoats.
However, the silhouette did not remain that way for long, and skirt hems began to widen to give a cone shape. In the 1810s, gores began to be used in skirts again, and skirts grew wider in the 1820s. The width of these skirts was sometimes supported by a small bustle. These were not always sufficient, and so extra petticoats were worn to help.
The first 'crinolines' were petticoats starched for extra stiffness, or made out of the new crinoline fabric, and they often had ruffles to support the skirts to the desired width. However, dress fabrics were heavy but not stiff enough to support their own weight, which tended to collapse the petticoats out of shape. Extra rigidity was added to petticoats through rings of cord or braid running around the hem. In the 1830s, women started to wear petticoats with hoops of whalebone or cane around the hem.
In 1856, the cage crinoline was patented in the United States, France and Britain by the American W.S. Thompson. This facilitated the fashionable silhoutte's development from a cone shape to a dome. It was not an entirely original idea; Thompson was probably inspired by the open cage or frame style of farthingales and panniers. The cage crinoline consisted of steel hoops suspended by tapes descending from a band around the wearer’s waist.
The cage crinoline was adopted with enthusiasm: the numerous petticoats, even the stiffened or hooped ones, were heavy, bulky and generally uncomfortable. It was light — it only required one or two petticoats worn over the top to prevent the steel bands appearing as ridges in the skirt — and freed the wearer's legs from tangling petticoats.
Unlike the farthingale and panniers, the crinoline was worn by women of every social class. The wider circulation of magazines and newspapers spread news of the new fashion, also fueling desire for it, and mass production made it affordable.

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As Parisian chair makers began adopting Tillard's designs, the frames of both caned and Louis XV bergère chairs were at times gilded or painted. Upholstered arms were moved back from the length of the seat so fashionable crinolines would not be crushed.

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