This classic book explores the changing shapes of women's dress from the 1500s to the 1920s, explaining the cyclical nature of these fashions, and how waists and skirts changed shape and size. Extracts from diaries, journals, poems and newspapers, and over 100 illustrations demonstrate the variety of this clothing throughout modern history.

In this classic book, Nora Waugh explores the changing shapes of women's dress from the 1500s to the 1920s. Simple laced bodices became corsets of cane, whale-bone and steel, while padding at shoulders and hips gave way to the structures of farthingales, hoops and bustles. Corsets and Crinolines explains the cyclical nature of these fashions, and how waists and skirts changed shape and size from the 1500s to the 1920s. Extracts from diaries, journals, poems and newspapers, as well as over 100 illustrations demonstrate the variety of these ubiquitous items of clothing throughout modern history.