History & culture

Side hoops or pads worn at the hips under 18th-century skirts to extend width sideways while remaining flat front and back, especially fashionable in French court dress.

The technique of scaling a garment pattern up or down across a range of sizes while preserving proportion and fit, historically done by hand and now largely computer-assisted.

French designer active from the early 1900s who freed women from the corseted silhouette with looser, high-waisted dresses influenced by Orientalist style, though his own hobble skirts still restricted movement.