Dictionary

crinolette en · NOUN

Etymology

From crinoline + -ette.

Meanings

1. (historical) A whalebone, cane, or steel framework that was worn between petticoat and dress, attached at the waist and projecting backwards but not as far to the sides as in the case of a full hoop skirt.
   • About 1873, the crinolette was abandoned and the bustle was forced to drop down the back of the skirt because of the long line of the popular cuirass bodice; it was later discarded when the fashionable silhouette narrowed still further with the 'princess line' dresses of the later 1870s. 1995, Karen Baclawski, The Guide to Historic Costume, page 95:
   • The Princess of Wales has won two millinery victories this year -- both on the side of common sense. She has banished the crinolette, in spite of Paris. She has retained the small bonnet in fashion, still in spite of Paris. 1883 October 6, “Hurrah, For the Princess!”, in Punch, volumes 84-85, page 161:
   • The jupon or steel petticoat, which in the crinoline period was bell-shaped, in 1869 became flat in front and at the back sloped groundwards from the waist, where the tournure or "crinolette" projected over the jupon in a sweeping curve. 1935, Baron Angus Holden, Elegant modes in the nineteenth century: from high waist to bustle:

Forms