A bouffant gown is a women's dress silhouette made of a wide, full skirt resembling a

hoop skirt A hoop skirt or hoopskirt is a women's undergarment worn in various periods to hold the skirt extended into a fashionable shape. It originated as a modest-sized mechanism for holding long skirts away from one's legs, to stay cooler in hot climat ...

(and sometimes including a hoop or

petticoat A petticoat or underskirt is an article of clothing, a type of undergarment worn under a skirt or a dress. Its precise meaning varies over centuries and between countries. According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', in current British En ...

support underneath the skirt). It may be

tea length A tea gown or tea-gown is a woman's dress for informal entertaining at home. These dresses, which became popular around the mid-19th century, are characterized by unstructured lines and light fabrics. Early tea gowns were a European development in ...

(mid-calf length) or floor length.

History

Bouffant gowns were a popular silhouette during the mid-19th century. It fell out of style by the end of the 19th century, but re-emerged in the 1930s, to appear in evening gowns during the 1930s and 1940s. It was fully revived in tea-length designs in 1947 by

Christian Dior Christian Ernest Dior (; 21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, Christian Dior SE, which is now owned by parent company LVMH. His fashion houses ...

's New Look

couture Couture may refer to: People * Couture (surname) Places Belgium * Couture-Saint-Germain, a village in the municipality of Lasne, Belgium Canada * Couture crater and Lac Couture, an impact crater and the lake that covers it in Quebec, Canada ...

collection. The style remained very popular at calf or ankle length throughout the 1950s.

Popularity

Bouffant gowns fell out of fashion during the 1960s and 1970s, as streamlined skirts became associated with modern trends. The resurgence of Victorian styles during the 1980s, as in the

wedding dress of Lady Diana Spencer Lady Diana Spencer's wedding dress was an ivory silk taffeta and antique lace gown, with a train and a tulle veil, valued then at £9,000 (). It was worn at Diana's wedding to Charles, Prince of Wales in 1981 at St Paul's Cathedral. It became ...

in 1981, brought the bouffant gown back into style. Today, it is mainly seen in wedding gowns,

Quinceañera A (also , , , and ) is a celebration of a girl's 15th birthday. It has pre-Columbian roots in Mexico (Aztecs) and is widely celebrated by girls throughout Latin America. The girl celebrating her 15th birthday is a (; feminine form of "15- ...

gowns, or

ball gown A ball gown, ballgown or gown is a type of evening gown worn to a ball or a formal event. Most versions are cut off the shoulder with a low décolletage, exposed arms, and long bouffant styled skirts. Such gowns are typically worn with an opera- ...

References

External links

Spring Wedding Dresses
{{Clothing Gowns Skirts Dresses History of fashion 19th-century fashion 20th-century fashion History of clothing (Western fashion)