A Commentary on Outrageous Fashion (1860)
This image is a mockery of fashion. In the 1860s, fashionable women had broad, billowing skirts that reached the floor in a mass of fabric and decoration. These skirts were held out by crinoline, a series of steel hoops held together by a strip of sturdy fabric to create a wide bell-shape cage held on at the waist. The skirts would be draped over this cage, giving skirts the desired width. It replaced the layers and layers of petticoats that would otherwise have been necessary to achieve the same look. This photograph, one of a series, pokes fun at the complicated undergarment, which was shunned by many as cumbersome and potentially dangerous. The wide, light skirts meant wearers couldn’t tell when the edges of their skirts were to close to hazards like machinery or fire, and documented cases of crinoline-related fatalities are recorded during the height of the crinoline craze.