CRINOLINE CRISIS: the effect of women’s fashion on furniture and interior design in 19th century Paris with Sylvia Sagona

In the mid 19th century the Empress Eugénie took advantage of newly developed steel under skirts to expand the crinoline to extraordinary proportions. 

This move, designed originally to boost the French luxury goods trade, had repercussions not only on women’s health and her status as a decorative ornament, but on the design of furniture, the decor of rooms and the interior layout of the new mansions. 

The Musée Galliéra in Paris houses a fascinating collection documenting the unexpected effects of the rise of the first great fashion industry.

Sylvia Sagona is Fellow of the School of Languages at the University of Melbourne (Department of French, Italian and French Studies) and specialises in 19th century French art and society.