What's a Pannier?

Panniers were frameworks worn under the petticoat at each hip, named after the baskets used to carry goods, like fresh bread, on pack animals. Made of cane, whalebone, or other stiff, flexible materials, panniers varied in size depending on the fashion of the time.

Like other artificial enhancements designed to draw attention to a desirable part of the body, panniers began modestly. It was at the courts of Europe that they reached extravagant proportions. At the height of their popularity in the 1760s, panniers extended as much as three feet out from each hip, dramatically widening the gown while keeping the front and back relatively flat.

Fashion periodically revives the wide-hipped silhouette of the pannier, and in bridal wear, its aristocratic allure has never quite gone out of style. Designers have revived the pannier's drama, not only with under structures, but with through side volume, box pleats, and layered tulle. Although never reaching the size of its heyday, the pannier's reappearance in wedding dress is on display here. In the charming robe de style of the 1920s, or the hourglass hyperfeminine shape of the 1940s post New Look, or the swagged fabric of the 1880s.