Late Victorian Fashion: Bustle Decline & Corset Restriction (1870s-1880s)

From the mid-1870s, the bustle gave way to a taller and thinner silhouette, which hugged the figure from the neck to the knee, only then flaring out in long, impractical trains that swept the ground behind. All the drapery which was previously layered over the bustle now gathered in complicated arrangements from knee level. The top of the very plain princess-line dress or separate cuirass bodice contrasted sharply with all the frills, swags and passementerie that decorated the lower skirts. The skirts were held in position by ties which helped to give a very smooth, straight front.

Finished replica project of the two purples taffeta natural form dress

By the early 1880s the style had taken on an even harsher appearance. The tubular design, now without trains for ordinary daywear, presented a very straight look. In 1881, Household Words described average walking skirts as measuring just 72in (183cm) around the circumference of the hem, showing how narrow the skirts were, especially when contrasted with the generous hemlines of the previous decades. As multiple rows of pleats and frills were increasingly popular for these styles, it was claimed any wider skirts would make this extensive decoration look unsightly.

Fig. 10.2. The blue dress in this fashion plate from The Ladies’ Treasury, 1876, shows the skirt is pulled tightly around the legs with internal ties, leaving the remains of the central bustle to trail from the centre into a train

Naturally, with the reduction of the skirts and the figure-hugging bodice, the underwear required to fit under these outfits also had to be substantially reduced. Bodices and corsets were heavily boned to ensure that the correct shape was being produced, and those lacking in the necessary curves used artificial padding over the hips and around the bust to achieve the correct silhouette.

Fig. 10.4. The summer walking dresses in this fashion plate from The Ladies Treasury, 1876, show how the fabric which once formed the bustle is now swagged and gathered at knee level, creating a much slimmer silhouette

The combination of heavily boned corsets and dresses, along with tightly tied skirts and impractically long trains, made this particular style possibly the most restrictive and constrained of all the fashions in the Victorian period. It is not surprising that some people reacted against these extremes in the form of Aesthetic dress, which advocated looser, more natural clothing, modelled on classical and Renaissance feminine ideals and designs.