ABSTRACT
The hoop skirt reached its apex of popularity when introduced in 1854 in modified form by the Empress Eugenie, wife of Louis Napoleon, the Emperor of France. The original concept of the hoop skirt featured a whalebone construction in the shape of a beehive. The largest circumference was around the hips, from which the dress fell in perpendicular lines; another popular variant consisted of hoops arranged like those on a barrel. The hoop skirt was the object of widespread derision dating back to its earliest use. Correspondingly, the chorus of jeers and jibes evident in contemporary accounts grew ever more strident in condemning the hoop skirt. Ultimately, the critics held sway and the reign of the hoop skirt began to recede in 1865. Despite efforts on the part of some garment makers and retailers to keep the style in favor, it disappeared forever at the time the rule of Louis Napoleon was coming to an end.
