Pad, 1880s-1890s, side view worn as hip pad

1880s-1890s. Cream cotton twill pad, either used as bustle pad or hip pad, tied to the waist with cotton twill tape.
A wide crescent-shaped pad, filled with horsehair and sewn to a length of cotton twill tape as a waistband. Its relatively thin profile, flexibility, and shallow curve at the top edge make it fit the body equally well if worn in back as a bustle pad for the slimmer late 19th century styles of skirt support, or as one of a pair of hip pads from the same period. Machine-sewn and hand-sewn.

The Irma G. Bowen Historic Clothing Collection digital catalog was produced by the UNH Library Digital Collection Initiative, supported in part by a grant from the Mooseplate program and New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. Additional funding provided by the E. Ruth Buxton Stephenson Memorial Fund.

Photography copyright, Astrida Schaeffer.