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[[File:Christian Dior Dress.jpg|thumb|right|230px|Typical [[Christian Dior]] evening gown, date unknown but circa 1950. Would definitely have needed two or more petticoats underneath.]]

A '''petticoat''' is a woman's [[undergarment]], shaped like a [[skirt]] or skirt+[[bodice]].<ref>Concise Oxford Dictionary.</ref> Think of it as a skirt underneath a regular skirt. The purpose is possibly [[Thermal insulation|insulation]], and certainly to make the skirt fly out in an attractive way.

Petticoats which are [[starch]]ed, with [[ruffle]]s, or made with stiff [[fabric]], can support a wider skirt. The ultimate in this trend is the [[crinoline]], which is a petticoat structure which includes [[hoop]]s of [[whale]]bone. Crinolines are not worn today, but petticoats are sometimes worn with ballgowns.

== Petticoats in the 20th century ==
For most of the first half of the 20th century, with a few exceptions, petticoats were out of fashion. Certainly ''multiple'' petticoats were not needed for the narrow skirts and dresses which were fashionable. Some evening [[gown]]s needed petticoats, but they were finished off by [[WWII]] wartime [[ration]]ing and shortages.

Petticoats were revived by [[Christian Dior]] in his full-skirted ''New Look'' of 1947. Tiered, ruffled, stiffened petticoats remained extremely popular during the 1950s, especially with [[teenager|teenage]] girls. Typically, at least three single petticoats were worn, until manufacturers began making double and triple layer petticoats. A narrow [[Slip (clothing)|slip]] was usually worn under the petticoats, especially the crinoline type, because they tended to be 'scratchy'.

Dior continued this theme with his ''A-Line'' collection of Spring 1955,<ref name="Ward 2005">{{cite book|last=Ward|first=Susan|title=Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion|year=2005|publisher=Thomson Gale|isbn=0-684-31394-4|pages=35-36|editor=Steele, Valerie|chapter=A-Line dress}}</ref> which featured the "most wanted silhouette in Paris". This was a "fingertip-length flared jacket worn over a dress with a very full, pleated skirt".<ref name="Ward 2005" /> Evening dresses at this time were always worn with petticoats.

Although an A-shape, this silhouette was not identical to what is now understood to embody the A-line idea.<ref name="Ward 2005" /> That idea was given its definitive expression and popularized by Dior’s successor, [[Yves Saint Laurent]], with his ''Trapeze Line'' of Spring 1958, which featured dresses flaring out dramatically from a fitted shoulder line.<ref name="Ward 2005" /> A-line clothes remained popular in the 1960s and 70s.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Underwear]]
[[Category:Bottoms (clothing)]]

Petticoat - Revision history

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