ABSTRACT
When in England and France at the beginning of the sixteenth century the separation of the bodice and skirt became fashionable, it was possible to make the bodice straighter and tighter and the skirt fuller. In the second half of the century the pair of bodys was further reinforced by adding whalebones to the sides and back; the side lacing of the early period was changed to the more convenient centre back or front opening. As the whole silhouette became longer and straighter stays almost disappeared and, in fact, became incorporated into the gown itself, the body of which was now mounted on a stiff, whaleboned lining. The earliest references to a farthingale are to be found in Spanish texts, and the first contemporary representation of a woman's skirt obviously artificially extended is also Spanish. Spain retained the cone-shaped farthingale until well into the seventeenth century, when it began to flatten front and back and extend on either side.
