Hoop Skirts

I do have to say that there is nothing more elegant than a lady in a dress or a skirt.  These days the wearing of skirts and dresses are not the most common thing in society and that's ok.  Though I have not worn such garments being a fella I can sort of relate to what it's like to wear one, having donned a kilt once.  It's not like wearing a skirt but I had a sense of what it feels like to be in one.  Thinking about it now reminds me of two things.

How cumbersome it was to get the thing on and fitting correctly and how kind of open one is in the thing.  I was self aware that some joker might want to flip the thing and take a look up it.  On the other side of the coin was the idea that it made me look handsome and it was not terribly uncomfortable to wear one.

So I can imagine that for a lady a skirt or dress has connected to them these feelings and thoughts above. Ugh I have to put the thing on over a petticoat wear stockings and yet hey I look good in this.  

Now imagine wearing a skirt or back in the day a dress and having an undergarment that pushed the skirt out in the form of a circle or other shape.  That my friends is or was the fashion of the late 1800s.  Hoop skirts were worn for comfort and technically ease of movement.  

The Crinoline was a stiff petticoat that was made of horse hair cotton or linen it was worn to extend the skirt outward in the form of a lining that shaped into a circle.  At the peak these dress linings would extend the skirt out 6 yards in circumference, 18Ft! that is a whole lotta skirt. These days they may still be seen worn by women on special occasions, mostly in the southern US.

Women and fashion have come a long way.  But, like I said seeing a lady in a skirt or dress always turns my head especially a BBW (big beautiful woman) in one.  Of course the greatest beauty and strength is in the heart not the clothes so don't be misled I think it's awesome that women are more empowered today to show off that strength along with being beautiful.  We have come a long way since the 1800s with still more room to improve.

C. T.