How to Sit In a Hoopskirt

Godey's Book 1860 Between hoop skirts and corsets, Victorian women showed off an exaggerated female shape in a way even a modern day bikini does not. “My Victorian black wool dress is historically accurate because it’s completely hand-sewn. Early Victorian dress were always sewn by hand. All seams – the visible as well as the hidden seams are hand-sewn! It took me 28 hours from start to finish: 11 hours for the skirt and 17 hours for the bodice. Yes, I measured the time because I was curious how long it took back then to sew a dress entirely by hand!”—modern day re enactor Hoop Skirt History Fashion historians know the hoop skirt in the 1830s and 1840s was not its first appearance, rather a reappearance of a fashion set by the 16 year old Princess Catherine of Aragon, fiancé of Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales. Catherine’s dress of the 1500s was straighter and less bell shaped. As with Catherine’s time, preceding women’s fashion had been nearly the opp...