---
title: "Crinoline"
description: "A crinoline is a stiffened petticoat or, from the 1850s, a cage of steel hoops, worn to hold out a woman’s skirt."
type: Glossary
url: https://teazle.art/glossary/crinoline
published: 2026-10-14
updated: 2026-10-14
author: "The Teazle editors"
---

# 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](https://teazle.art/glossary/bustle.md).


## Sources

1. [Crinoline (AAT 300210554)](http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300210554). Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus
2. [Crinoline (Q836084)](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q836084). Wikidata

Canonical: https://teazle.art/glossary/crinoline