Bustle pad of glazed calico, France, ca. 1885Bustle pad of dark brown glazed calico trimmed with dark brown silk cord. It consists of an almost square pad with rounded corners overlaid with a smaller one held in place by the silk cord.
It appears to be stuffed with straw. It fastens with a white waist tape.Bought in Paris
This French rectangular bustle pad is stuffed with straw and would have provided a firm shelf-like support for the skirt and petticoats worn over it. This helped create the fashionable silhouette of the mid 1880s a period in which bustles briefly returned to favour.
Bustle pad
Au Louvre
France, Paris, about 1885
Glazed calico, stuffed with straw and trimmed with silk cord
V&A: T.377-1978 [16/04/2016-12/03/2017]