Crinoline

A crinoline is a stiffened petticoat or, from the 1850s, a cage of steel hoops, worn to hold out a woman’s skirt.

The word first named a stiff fabric of horsehair (French crin) and linen used for petticoats. From the mid-1850s it meant the cage crinoline, a light frame of spring-steel hoops hung on tapes, which let skirts become enormous without layers of heavy petticoats. By the late 1860s the fullness moved to the back, leading to the bustle.