Textiles and Dress

Farthingale

A farthingale is one of several structures used under Western European women's clothing - especially in the 16th and 17th centuries - to support the skirts in the desired shape and to enlarge the lower half of the body. The fashion originated in Spain in the fifteenth century. Farthingales served important social and cultural functions for women in Renaissance Europe as they expressed, primarily when worn by court women, high social position and wealth.

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See also

• ▸Gert Town, New Orleans
• ▸Hydraulics
• ▸Cache-cœur

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