Farthingales

Farthingales are hoopskirts that were fitted underneath dresses to give gowns proper definition and structure in the 15th and 16th centuries. Farthingales are the beginning of what would later become bustles and crinoline from the Victorian era. These skirt contraptions were originally a Spanish design, but was transferred to England when Catherine Aragon of Spain married Prince Arthur, son of King Henry VII of England. Royal figures were the trendsetters when it came to European fashion. Farthingales were often made of wood or wicker with the earlier versions being made of whalebone around 1580. Farthingales provided a cone shaped appearance allowing women to drape their skirts over the structure, giving women a near perfect form. Women of France and England would wear double skirting over the farthingale to reveal contrasting colors.

The French court produced the wheel Farthingale which was wide and circular around the hoop which allowed the dress to drape over in a circular pattern. This style was transported to England in the late 1570s and the great Farthingale would derive from the wheel farthingale and Queen Elizabeth I can be seen wearing the wheel style in various portraits. The great farthingale was odd in the respect that it hung low in the front while high in the back. The low cut line elongated the waist while shortening the legs in the front. The great farthingale had not survived in history, but Queen Elizabeth I can be seen wearing a style similar to the great farthingale in the 1590s. This style was popular by the late 1500s and became fashionable until the early 17th century and by this time the farthingales had become mostly restricted to court life. By the mid 1600s, however, farthingales fell out of fashion entirely.