Popular in the 1800s, a hoopskirt is a woman's undergarment worn to hold her skirt in a fashionable shape. They usually consisted of a fabric petticoat with casings that held something pliable but stiff, like whalebone (baleen) or thin strips of steel. The late 1860s saw the fall of the circular hoop and the rise of the elliptical shaped hoopskirt beginning to evolve into the bustle. By 1871, it was totally bustle. Bustles were worn under the skirt in the back, just below the waist, to keep the skirt from dragging.