Bustles

The Victorian bustle, sometimes known as the Grecian bend was first in fashion between 1870 and 1875.

People often find it difficult to distinguish between the two quite different effects the Victorian bustles produced. If you look carefully you can see quite clear differences of style in the dress silhouettes. This is almost always verified by checking the hairstyle which also shows specific differences between the eras. The first bustle silhouette existed between 1870 and 1875 and the second bustle silhouette was worn between 1883 and 1890, but had been introduced in Paris in 1880, so appeared in French fashion plates a little earlier than actually worn.