There was never a fashion invented that was more sexy. How great to come into a room and occupy six feet of space.
Such was its popularity — described by satirical magazine
Punch
as "Crinolinemania" — that some steel factories catered exclusively to
the crinoline market, churning out around 3,000 every day.
Crinoline-only shops offered them for sale to an eager public. Yet it
was, as is obvious, a very difficult object to wear.
It was also a deadly fire hazard. From the late 1850s to the late 1860s, around 3,000 women died in crinoline fires in England.