Bustle

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The crinolettes that supported the bustled skirts of the 1870s and 1880s took on a more cylindrical form than their predecessors of the 1860s, with a flattened front and increased emphasis over the buttocks. Although they were conceived purely as mechanisms to achieve an aesthetic effect, crinolettes also responded to practical considerations. Pieces like the white tiered and webbed wire examples here could collapse like accordions. Some, like the Lobster-Pot crinolette, were designed, like winter petticoats of the period, to keep the wearer warm. This example was constructed of medium-weight wool and sports a button-on hem ruffle.

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.

Metropolitan Museum of Art