In the last two months I talked about the different decorative techniques used to trim Belle Époque petticoats (here and here); now I will discuss the different factors that combine to create the shape of the skirt, and the petticoats that support it. There are many factors that affect the shape of the skirt:

1. The number of petticoats worn

2. The fabric (or fabrics) used for the petticoats

3. The patterns used

4. How the decorative ruffle is supported

5. Whether tucks are used in the decoration, and if so, where they are applied.

I will be discussing all of these in this article, particularly as they relate to the six 1890-1910 petticoats described here. Next month I will be talking about the basic sewing techniques (plackets, seam finishes, etc.) that were used in these six petticoats.

Styles

The exact shape of the skirts varies quite a bit during the Belle Époque period:

1892 The early 1890s has the fullness of the skirt drawn towards the back, and the front is rather flat.	1895 The mid-1890s fashionable skirt silhouette was almost triangular. Skirts were frequently cut as half to three-quarter circles.

1903 During the early 1900s the skirts seem to cling down to the knee and then flare out around the ankles in a trumpet shape.	1906 There is a brief fad in the late 1900s for full skirts with a comparatively raised waist.	1909 The end of the decade moves to extremely narrow skirts that continue to have a raised waistline.

Petticoats changed their shape just as the skirts did. In the first few years of the 1890s the skirts were very narrow with all the fullness at the back. Petticoats reflected this:

“The front [of the petticoat] fits almost as closely as a sheath skirt, the fullness being drawn to the back by means of a casing that extends from each side across the back about midway of the skirt. It has an opening in the centre of the back formed by buttonholes, and out of which come broad, pink ribbons that draw the fullness as it should be, and are then tied in a pretty way in the back.”(Ladies’ Home Journal, March 1891) [Severa 464]

As skirts flared into the full “triangular shape” of the mid-90s there was a change in petticoats to match:

“The fashionable flaring effect is produced by wearing… skirts over an Empire Petticoat that is gored to flare well at the bottom, and made with a deep, full flounce that falls over narrow, gathered ruffles to further increase the flare” (The Delineator, May 1893).[Severa 464]

Again in the early 1900s, when skirts became “trumpet shaped” and much more clingy, petticoats adjusted to focus the decoration around the bottom:

“If we remain faithful to soft, clinging material for our dresses, we require a petticoat with a good deal of frou-frou round the feet to enable us to walk with due dignity!”[The Lady’s Realm, 286]

In the late 1900s, as skirts narrowed more dramatically, petticoats shifted shapes again:

“By the autumn [of 1907] ‘petticoats are obviously on the decrease, the befrilled and laced jupon already carrying a démodé air when placed in close proximity with the soft falling, clinging skirts that, on being raised, reveal petticoats of an equally affectionate character.’”[Cunnington, A History of Underclothes, 213]

Throughout the entire period, petticoats fit closely through the hips, and usually it was the layers of trim (frequently referred to as frills or frillies) that determined just how wide or narrow the skirt would be.

Petticoats & Underskirts

How many petticoats are worn has a huge impact on the ultimate shape of the skirt worn over them. According to The History of Underclothes, “not more than two [petticoats] were worn, the top one, particularly when coloured, often being referred to as an underskirt.”[Cunnington, The History of Underclothes 212] In fact, I found the top petticoat being referred to by a number of different names: petticoats (just to be confusing with the white cotton petticoats they were worn over), jupes or jupons (the French terms for petticoats [Picken 21.]), slip skirts, lining or lining skirt, foundation skirt, drop lining, and underskirt. For the purposes of this article I’m going to refer to it as an underskirt, in order to differentiate when I’m talking about the top petticoat, and when I’m referring to a white cotton petticoat.

The 1907 publication of The Complete Dressmaker devotes a number of pages to describing how the foundation or lining skirt should be constructed. Initially this sounds like the lining of the outer skirt, but the garment described is a completely separate skirt, which is to be worn with both a petticoat and the main skirt.[Grimble, The Edwardian Modiste 368-9.]

The May 1906 issue of The Voice of Fashion also talks about the possibility of the skirt lining being a separate garment:

“Skirts are now so constructed that the outside and lining parts are made up as two separate skirts. They may be made on the same or separate bands. The lining is then termed a drop skirt and is very seldom constructed the same as the outside skirt. The most desirable way to construct the drop lining is to use plain drafts for the upper portion of the skirt and finish the bottom with a pleated flounce of about 10 or 12 inches in depth. The flounce can or cannot be set upon the upper portion of the skirt, the most satisfactory way being to sew the flounce to the lower edge.

“Such a drop lining can be worn with almost any style of outside skirt. Braid is usually placed on the bottom of the drop skirt for protection. When such a lining is used the outside skirt is faced a short distance from the bottom and the facing hand sewn or stitched in place, as the case may be.”[Grimble, The Voice of Fashion 15]

Based on these factors, my hypothesis is that only a single white cotton petticoat such as the six we’ll be analyzing was worn during the Belle Époque period, underneath the second petticoat is the (sometimes quite fancy) colored underskirt. As Mills says in Calico Chronicle, “even with purchased embroidered trim, there was still much handwork required to put it to proper use. In most cases, the top petticoat was fancy and the other layers were plain.”[Mills 120]

Trains are prevalent in fashion illustrations for both day and evening wear in the Belle Époque, but are rarely seen in petticoat illustrations or the white cotton petticoats available on the vintage market, although they are mentioned in period advertisements for silk petticoats:

“And that reminds me that near akin to the corset is the petticoat or underskirt. The craze for silk certainly predominates over our fancy for cambric, and the London Corset Company are making a lovely trained underskirt in soft taffeta, with a multiplicity of soft frills.” [The Lady’s Realm, 286]

None of the six petticoats we’re analyzing have a train; their decorative ruffles measure approximately the same distance from the floor in the front as in the back. I suspect trains were a more common feature of underskirts then of white cotton petticoats.

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