Bustle
c. 1883-87
Museum Purchase
2005.5.174

Technical innovations continually influenced female
appearance during the nineteenth century. Not only were textile production and
sewing capabilities improved, but cutting-edge processes shaped the body with
steam-molded corsets stiffened with watchspring-steel boning. The 1870s and
1880s were the era of bustles, posterior protuberances that swayed seductively
back and forth as their wearers walked. In the early 1870s, the bustle
was full and round. The bustle of the 1880s perched directly on the buttocks,
jutting out ninety degrees from the hips. This extreme example is an
engineering feat. Not only does it contain three divisions of sprung, coiled
steel encased in polished cotton pouches, it also features a hinged
understructure that did not fully compress when its wearer sat down, forcing
her to teeter on the edge of her seat.