Crinoline
In the mid-1800s, fashionable ladies coveted the flounciest, widest skirts possible. The crinoline started as a stiff petticoat made of volumes of fabric, and evolving into metal hoop skirt frames to create the illusion of skirt volume without the weight of multiple layers of petticoat. Some crinoline reached six yards wide (18 meters). The skirts were so wide, it made the woman’s waist look tiny and kept unwanted suitors at arm’s length. Fashionable as they were, there were some bothersome bits. Crinoline needed a wide overskirt, meaning lots of extra fabric went into a dress, increasing its price exponentially. But worse, crinoline and the hooped underskirt used to puff them out further, could be cumbersome, even hazardous, when trying to get out carriages. By 1878, crinoline had fallen out of fashion, replaced by the Victorian era bustled skirt, narrower on the front and sides and gathered in the back.