Jezebel Investigates, The Gilded Age Edition: How Did They Sit Down?

promise old-fashioned romance and intrigue, love affairs communicated in furtive glances and tragic demises foreshadowed with a few polite coughs. More than almost anything else, however, they promise elaborate interiors and gorgeous retro clothing. HBO’s new series,more than delivers on those fronts. Set in Edith Wharton’s 1880s New York, the show was created by

showrunner Julian Fellowes and features a cast that includes Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, and Carrie Coon, all climbing and plotting and trying to socially out-maneuver each other while clad in Victorian finery.As television spectacles go, it’s a beautiful one.

“You have skirt supports going back at least as early as the 16th century,” fashion historian Dr. Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at thetold Jezebel. The shapes of these augmented skirts evolved over time—just think of the varying styles of voluminous dresses worn by historical figures from Queen Elizabeth I to Marie Antoinette to Mary Todd Lincoln.

And yes, they could sit down. Bustles tended to be soft or foldable, allowing women to carefully lower themselves onto their chairs as the contraptions “collapse up onto itself,” as historical costume maker Jennifer Rosbrugh explained in a helpful YouTube tutorial she made illustrating the mechanics of it all. Leaning back was out of the question on two fronts—the bustle was taking up valuable back-of-the-seat real estate, and the corset was keeping your back ramrod straight anyway.

🤣😂🤣😂🤣 I used to wonder this until I saw how a bustle was constructed on the inside.

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