History & culture

A hooped or padded understructure worn beneath skirts from the 15th to early 17th centuries to create a rigid conical or wheel-shaped silhouette, first developed in Spain.

A narrow ankle-length skirt so tight at the hem that it restricted the wearer's stride, a controversial fashion of the early 1910s associated with designer Paul Poiret.

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.