One of the most notable events of the 1850s – at least in terms of women’s fashion – was the 1856 invention of the wire cage crinoline. Made of graduated hooped wires secured by fabric tape, this technological marvel could accommodate skirts that were fuller and heavier than ever before. As a result, during the years from 1856 through 1866, skirts grew to their largest proportions of the century. By the end of the 1850s, it sometimes took as much as eighteen yards of fabric to complete a gown.
