crinoline

Stiff fabric, originally made of horsehair, widely used in 19th-century women's clothing. It was used to create skirts of great width in the 1850s when the cage-frame crinoline, made with steel hoops, was introduced. Promoted by the Empress Eugénie in France, the style became popular throughout Europe. The frame was modified around 1865 when the skirts were flattened at the front, leaving a fuller skirt at the back. By the late 1860s many crinolines were discarded altogether in favour of a far narrower profile.