Somewhat abstract 1881 caricature which depicts the early 1880s bustle (to hold up a column of flounces down the back of the outside of the dress) as a partial resurgence of the pernicious crinoline. On the left is Punch's Almanack for 1861, containing a John Leech caricature of women wearing the broad crinolines of the late 1850s and early 1860s. Above it is a scroll labelled "Hogarth", referring to William Hogarth's satirical prints on the hoopskirts of the 1740s. In the center is a Venus de Milo statue wearing a crinolette. On the column on the right is a woman in a narrow gown ("aesthetic dress") trying to put on or remove a partial back-crinoline or cage bustle, labelled "Aesthete struggling with fashion, after Leighton", a reference to Frederic Leighton's sculpture An Athlete Struggling with a Python. The cage bustle is likened to the exoskeleton of a "parasite".
{{Information |Description=THE CRINOLETTA DISFIGURANS. An Old Parasite in a New Form. |Source=Punch |Date=December 6, 1881 |Author=Sambovrne |Permission=PD |other_versions= }} Category:Fashion in 1881Category:Bustle