Empress crinoline frame
(c. 1860)
- Medium
- cotton, wire
- Measurements
- 85.0 cm (centre back) 59.0 cm (diameter)
- Place/s of Execution
- (England)
- Inscription
- label, inside back, stamped in ink on white cotton: TRADE (crown) MARK / THOMPSON'S / No. 72 / "EMPRESS"
inscribed in ink on waistband: Mary Ireland collection - Accession Number
- CT95-1982
- Department
- International Fashion and Textiles
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1982 - Gallery location
- Not on display
- About this work
-
Most of the equipment needed for a fashionable silhouette in the Victorian era remained unseen, hidden beneath layers of garments. The Empress crinoline, made of flexible steel hoops, created a bell-shaped silhouette so desirable that its manufacturer claimed, ‘fashionable dressmakers value no other and refuse to make a dress on any other model’. A decade later, rich folds of fabric suspended in an elaborate high bustle were supported by another caged contraption of steel half-hoops, stout cotton fabric and lacing to adjust the height. Each hoop could collapse gently into the next, allowing ladies to sit down more easily.
- Physical description
- Cream, 11 wire circles held together with 7 tapes on a linen band. Written in ink 'Mary Ireland collection' on waistband.