Panniers or side hoops are women's

undergarment Undergarments, underclothing, or underwear are items of clothing worn beneath outer clothes, usually in direct contact with the skin, although they may comprise more than a single layer. They serve to keep outer garments from being soiled o ...

s worn in the 17th and 18th centuries to extend the width of the

skirt A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards. At its simplest, a skirt can be a draped garment made out of a single piece of fabric (such as pareos). However, most skirts ar ...

s at the side while leaving the front and back relatively flat. This provided a panel where woven patterns, elaborate decorations and rich embroidery could be displayed and fully appreciated.

History

The style originated in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

court dress of the 17th century, familiar in portraits by Velázquez. The fashion spread to France and from there to the rest of Europe after c. 1718–1719, when some Spanish dresses had been displayed in Paris. It is also suggested that the pannier originated in Germany or England, having been around since 1710 in England, and appearing in the French court in the last years of Louis XIV’s reign. The earlier form of the pannier took the shape similar to a 19th-century

crinoline A crinoline is a stiff or structured petticoat designed to hold out a woman's skirt, popular at various times since the mid-19th century. Originally, crinoline described a stiff fabric made of horsehair ("crin") and cotton or linen which was ...

. They were wide and domed in circumference. As they developed, they differed from earlier equivalents such as the

farthingale A farthingale is one of several structures used under Western European women's clothing in the 16th and 17th centuries to support the skirts in the desired shape and enlarge the lower half of the body. It originated in Spain in the fifteenth c ...

of the late 16th century, by not extending equally in all directions, but being very wide at the sides, but not coming out so far to front and back. By the mid-century, the "shoulders" were rather abrupt, not gently curved. By the mid-18th century, a woman took up three times as much space as a man and always presented an imposing spectacle. At their most extreme, panniers could extend the skirt several feet at each side. By the 1780s, panniers were normally worn only with very formal gowns and within court fashion. The name comes from

pannier A pannier is a basket, bag, box, or similar container, carried in pairs either slung over the back of a beast of burden, or attached to the sides of a bicycle or motorcycle. The term derives from a Middle English borrowing of the Old French '' ...

s, a French term for wicker

baskets A basket is a container that is traditionally constructed from stiff fibers and can be made from a range of materials, including wood splints, runners, and cane. While most baskets are made from plant materials, other materials such as horsehai ...

slung on either side of a pack animal.

Gallery

File:Woman wearing skirt with panniers and sack back MET DP-1372-049 (cropped).jpg,

Staffordshire figure Staffordshire figures are a type of popular pottery figurine made in England from the 18th century onward. Most Staffordshire figures made from 1740 to 1900 were produced by small potteries and makers' marks are generally absent. Most Victorian f ...

, c. 1750 File:Diego Velázquez 030.jpg, Portrait of the Infanta

Maria Theresa of Spain Maria Theresa of Spain ( es, María Teresa de Austria; french: Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche; 10 September 1638 – 30 July 1683) was Queen of France from 1660 to 1683 as the wife of King Louis XIV. She was born an Infanta of Spain and Portugal a ...

by Diego Velázquez, 1652–1653 File:Arthur Devis 10c.jpg, from''Triptych: Mr Peter Ducane, Mary, nee Norris, his wife & The Ducane Children, 1747'' File:Tänzerpaar Höchst 1755 Tänzerin.jpg, German porcelain ballet dancer wearing a pannier, 1755 File:Sofia Magdalenas brudklänning.jpg, The wedding dress of queen Sophia Magdalena of Sweden, 1766. File:Panier, underkjol. Sofia Magdalena - Livrustkammaren - 65242.tif, Queen Sophia Magdalenas panniers to her coronation robes, 1772. File:Sofia Magdalenas kröningsdräkt - Livrustkammaren - 13119.tif, Coronation robes of Sophia Magdalena, 1772. File:MarieAntoinette by VigeeLeBrun.jpg, Marie Antoinette in a court dress of 1779 worn over extremely wide panniers.

References

External links

Eighteenth-Century Silhouette and Support
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

* ttp://www.fashion-era.com/paniers.htm Paniers {{DEFAULTSORT:Pannier (Clothing) 17th-century fashion 18th-century fashion Undergarments History of clothing (Western fashion) History of fashion Women's clothing

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links