Woman's Cage Crinolinecirca 1865

Not on view

Cage crinoline with white fabric-wrapped wire hoops and vertical bands, bell-shaped, photographed against a black background

Title: Woman's Cage Crinoline
Place Made: England
Date Made: circa 1865
Medium: Cotton-braid-covered steel, cotton twill and plain-weave double-cloth tape, cane, and metal
Dimensions: Center back length: 36 1/2 in. (92.71 cm); Diameter: 38 1/2 in. (97.79 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by Suzanne A. Saperstein and Michael and Ellen Michelson, with additional funding from the Costume Council, the Edgerton Foundation, Gail and Gerald Oppenheimer, Maureen H. Shapiro, Grace Tsao, and Lenore and Richard Wayne
Accession Number: M.2007.211.380
Classification: Costumes
Collecting Area: Costume and Textiles
Curatorial Notes: The Bessemer process, patented in 1855, greatly increased the malleability of steel, making possible a flexible steel-wire armature (cage crinoline) to replace the bulk of petticoats. This lightweight steel skeleton allowed skirts to widen to excessive proportions, recalling the extremities of the mid-eighteenth-century pannier. Dome-shaped in 1856, the cage became pyramid-shaped in the early 1860s, when style dictated that the massive skirts be swept to the garment’s back.
Selected Bibliography: Takeda, Sharon Sadako and Kaye Durland Spilker. Fashioning Fashion: Deux Siècles de Mode Européenne, 1700-1915. Paris: Arts Décoratifs; Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich; New York: Delmonico Books-Prestel, 2013.
Takeda, Sharon Sadako and Kaye Durland Spilker. Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700-1915. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich; New York: Delmonico Books/Prestel, 2010.
Takeda, Sharon Sadako and Kaye Durland Spilker. Fashioning Fashion: Europäische Moden, 1700-1915. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich; New York: Prestel, 2012.
Edwards, Lydia. How to Read a Dress: a Guide to Changing Fashion from the 16th to the 20th Century. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017.

Woman's Cage Crinolinecirca 1865

Not on view

Title: Woman's Cage Crinoline
Place Made: England
Date Made: circa 1865
Medium: Cotton-braid-covered steel, cotton twill and plain-weave double-cloth tape, cane, and metal
Dimensions: Center back length: 36 1/2 in. (92.71 cm); Diameter: 38 1/2 in. (97.79 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by Suzanne A. Saperstein and Michael and Ellen Michelson, with additional funding from the Costume Council, the Edgerton Foundation, Gail and Gerald Oppenheimer, Maureen H. Shapiro, Grace Tsao, and Lenore and Richard Wayne
Accession Number: M.2007.211.380
Classification: Costumes
Collecting Area: Costume and Textiles
Curatorial Notes: The Bessemer process, patented in 1855, greatly increased the malleability of steel, making possible a flexible steel-wire armature (cage crinoline) to replace the bulk of petticoats. This lightweight steel skeleton allowed skirts to widen to excessive proportions, recalling the extremities of the mid-eighteenth-century pannier. Dome-shaped in 1856, the cage became pyramid-shaped in the early 1860s, when style dictated that the massive skirts be swept to the garment’s back.
Selected Bibliography: Takeda, Sharon Sadako and Kaye Durland Spilker. Fashioning Fashion: Deux Siècles de Mode Européenne, 1700-1915. Paris: Arts Décoratifs; Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich; New York: Delmonico Books-Prestel, 2013.
Takeda, Sharon Sadako and Kaye Durland Spilker. Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700-1915. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich; New York: Delmonico Books/Prestel, 2010.
Takeda, Sharon Sadako and Kaye Durland Spilker. Fashioning Fashion: Europäische Moden, 1700-1915. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich; New York: Prestel, 2012.
Edwards, Lydia. How to Read a Dress: a Guide to Changing Fashion from the 16th to the 20th Century. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017.