Skirt

Skirt (pronounced skurt)

(1) The part of a gown, dress, slip, or coat that extends downward from the waist.

(2) A one-piece garment extending downward from the waist and not joined between the legs, worn especially by women and girls.

(3) Some part resembling or suggesting the skirt of a garment, as the flared lip of a bell or a protective and ornamental cloth strip covering the legs of furniture.

(4) In saddlery, in a small leather flap on each side of a saddle, covering the metal bar from which the stirrup hangs.

(5) In the building trades, a baseboard or apron.

(6) In furniture design, a flat horizontal brace set immediately beneath the seat of a chair, chest of drawers, or the like, to strengthen the legs; also called a bed or frieze (a flat brace or support immediately beneath a tabletop).

(7) The bordering, marginal, or outlying part of a place, group etc; the outskirts; to lie along the border of somewhere.

(8) In slang, an older (and usually disparaging or offensive) term used to refer to a woman or girl.

(9) In rocketry, an outer part of a rocket or missile that provides structural support or houses such systems as avionics or gyroscopes.

(10) To avoid, go around the edge of, or keep distant from (something that is controversial, risky etc).

(11) In the wool industry, to remove low-grade wool and foreign matter from the outer edge of fleece.

(12) In the design of internal combustion engines, the lower part of the block which extends to (or below) the centre of the crankshaft line.

(13) In the design of suction or elevating devices, a flexible edging providing a partial seal at the base where the air flow occurs.

(14) In butchery, a cut of beef from the flank.

1250–1300: From the Middle English skyrte & skirte (lower part of a woman’s dress) from the Old Norse skyrta (shirt; a kind of kirtle) from the Proto-Germanic skurtijǭ (skirt).  The sense development from "shirt" to "skirt" is thought most likely related to the long shirts of peasant garb (the Low German cognate Schört, in some dialects translates as "woman's gown").  The meaning "border, edge" (in outskirts, etc) was first recorded in the late fifteenth century and the metonymic use for "women collectively" emerged as early as the 1550s although there’s no evidence the slang sense of "young woman" existed prior to 1906 with “skirt-chaser” (a womaniser) first attested 1942.  The mini-skirt dates from 1965, reputedly the invention of French designer André Courrèges (1923-2016).

The Ford & Lincoln “Y-Block” V8 engines gained their nickname from the deep skirting of the block which extended below the crankshaft line, making for an unusually robust bottom end, something which would prove of some significance long after the unit had been supplanted in the US by more modern designs.  In many ways the Y-Blocks were a curious cul-de-sac in the evolutionary path of the US V8 engine, having an unusual port design which rendered development by conventional means impossible (hence the brief resort to supercharging) and the dimensions limited the potential for increased displacement.  It was noted also for the unique arrangement of the solid valve lifters which had to be installed from below and a firing order which produced a distinctive and pleasing burble from the exhaust.  Compared with Ford’s earlier and later V8s, both the Y-Blocks were short-lived, the Lincoln (some of which were actually used in Ford trucks) used between 1952-1963 while the Ford lasted from 1954 until 1964, their replacements both adopting a more conventional design approach.  However, the Ford lived on in Romania until 1975 where it was produced under licence as a truck engine (the durability of the tough, deep-skirted block an asset in a market where conditions were tough and the quality of oil and fuel sometimes suspect) and in Argentina until 1988, the South Americans improving things greatly with their re-designed heads which used conventional porting.

The Pencil Skirt

Lindsay Lohan in racerback floral crop top and matching high-waisted pencil skirt with cobalt blue suede heels; Suno Spring Collection, 2013.

A pencil skirt is a slim-fitting garment with a severe, narrow cut.  The classic design was approximately knee-length but modern, more flexible fabrics have made possible calf-length styles.  It borrows its name from the writing instrument because, tailored for a close fit, it is pencil-like: long and slender.  Flexible in use, it’s the quintessential mix-and-match item, able to be worn either as a separate piece or as part of an ensemble.  A vent is usually placed in the back (or increasingly at the sides, especially in longer styles) because the slim shape would otherwise impede movement although a more modest kick pleat can instead be used.  Modern stretchy fabrics have made practical functional pencil skirts without either vents or pleats but they seem still popular for aesthetic reasons.  Historically, the industry paired pencil skirts with stilettos or court shoes but they’re now worn in just about any combination, boots proving increasingly popular.  French designer Christian Dior (1905–1957) included a classic pencil skirt in his 1954 Autumn-Winter collection although the style had long been worn.  Economical in the use of fabric compared with more voluminous cuts, its popularity had been boosted by war-time rationing and post-war austerity.

The pencil skirt’s precursor was the hobble skirt, an Edwardian-era fad inspired by the Ballets Russes, a Paris-based ballet company which, between 1908-1929, performed in the Americas and Europe (though paradoxically never in Russia because of the political convulsions).  Highly influential, Ballets Russes brought modernism to ballet with works commissioned from Stravinsky, Debussy, Prokofiev, Satie and Ravel, and their artistic collaborators included Kandinsky, Benois, Picasso and Matisse.  Coco Chanel (1883–1971) was one of their costume designers but it’s not known if she penned the hobble skirt.

Bubble

Bubble (pronounced buhb-uhl)

(1) A spherical globule of gas (or vacuum) contained in a liquid or solid.

(2) Anything that lacks firmness, substance, or permanence; an illusion or delusion.

(3) An inflated speculation, especially if fraudulent.

(4) The act or sound of bubbling.

(5) A spherical or nearly spherical canopy or shelter; dome.

(6) To form, produce, or release bubbles; effervesce.

(7) To flow or spout with a gurgling noise; gurgle.

(8) To speak, move, issue forth, or exist in a lively, sparkling manner; exude cheer.

(9) To seethe or stir, as with excitement; to boil.

(10) To cheat; deceive; swindle (archaic).

(11) To cry (archaic Scots).

(12) A type of skirt.

(13) In infection control management, a system of physical isolation in which un-infected sub-sets population are protected by restricting their exposure to others.

1350-1400: From the Middle English bobel (noun), possibly from the Middle Dutch bobbel and/or Middle Low German bubbele (verb), all probably of echoic origin.  Related forms appear as the Swedish bubbla, the Danish boble and the Dutch bobble.  The use to describe markets, inflated in value by speculation widely beyond any relationship to their intrinsic value, dates from the South Sea Bubble which began circa 1711 and collapsed in 1720.  In response to the collapse, parliament passed The Bubble Act (1720), which required anyone seeking to float a joint-stock company to first secure a royal charter.  Interestingly, the act was supported by the South Sea Company before its failure.  Ever since cryptocurrencies emerged, many have been describing them as a bubble which will burst and while that has happened with particular coins (the exchange collapses are something different), the industry thus far has continued with only the occasional period of deflation.  Bubble & bubbling are nouns & verbs, bubbler is a noun, bubbled is a verb, bubbly is a noun & adjective, bubbleless & bubblelike are adjectives and bubblingly is an adverb; the noun plural is bubbles.

An artificial tulip in elisa mauve.

However although the South Sea affair was the first use of “bubble” to describe such a market condition, it wasn’t the first instance of a bubble which is usually regarded as the Dutch tulpenmanie (tulip mania) which bounced during the 1630s, contract prices for some bulbs of the recently introduced and wildly fashionable tulip reaching extraordinarily high levels, the values accelerating from 1634 until a sudden collapse in 1637.  Apparently just a thing explained by a classic supply and demand curve, the tulip bubble burst with the first big harvest which demonstrated the bulbs and flowers were really quite common.  In history, there would have been many pervious bubbles but it wasn’t until the economies and financial systems of early-modern Europe were operating that the technical conditions existed for them to manifest in the form and to the extent we now understand.  Interestingly, for something often regarded as the proto-speculative asset bubble and a landmark in economic history, twentieth-century revisionist historians have suggested it was more a behavioral phenomenon than anything with any great influence on the operation of financial markets or the real economy, the “economic golden age” of the Dutch Republic apparently continuing unaffected for almost a century after the bottom fell out of the tulip market.  The figurative uses have been created or emerged as required, the first reference to anything wanting firmness, substance, or permanence is from 1590s.  The soap-bubble dates from 1800, bubble-shell is from 1847, bubble-gum was introduced in 1935 and bubble-bath appears first to have be sold in 1937.  The slang noun variation “bubbly” was first noted in 1920, an invention of US English.  

The word "bubble" spiked shortly after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Over time, use has expanded to encompass large-scale operations like touring sporting teams and even the geographical spaces used for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics but the original meaning was more modest: small groups based on close friends, an extended family or co-workers.  These small bubbles weren't supposed to be too elastic and operated in conjunction with other limits imposed in various jurisdictions; a bubble might consist of a dozen people but a local authority might limit gatherings to ten in the one physical space so two could miss out, depending on the details in the local rules.  Bubble thus began as an an unofficial term used to describe the cluster of people outside the household with whom one felt comfortable in an age of pandemic.

Tulips

Bubbles were however a means of risk-reduction, not a form of quarantine.  The risks in a bubble still exist, most obviously because some may belong to more than one bubble, contact thus having a multiplier effect, the greater the number of interactions, the greater the odds of infection.  Staying home and limiting physical contact with others remained preferable, the next best thing to an actual quarantine.  The more rigorously administered bubbles used for events like the Olympics are essentially exercises in perimeter control, a defined "clean" area, entry into which is restricted to those tested and found uninfected.  At the scale of something like an Olympic games, it's a massive undertaking to secure the edges but, given sufficient resource allocation can be done although it's probably misleading to speak of such an operation as as a "bubble".  Done with the static-spaces of Olympic venues, they're really quarantine-zones.  Bubble more correctly describes touring sporting teams which move as isolated bubbles often through unregulated space.

The Bubble Skirt

A type of short skirt with a balloon style silhouette, the bubble dress (more accurately described as a bubble skirt because that’s the bit to which the description applies) is characterized by a voluminous skirt with the hem folded back on itself to create a “bubble” effect at the hemline.  Within the industry, it was initially called a tulip skirt, apparently because of a vague resemblance to the flower but the public preferred bubble.  It shouldn’t be confused with the modern tulip skirt and the tulip-bubble thing is just a linguistic coincidence, there’s no link with the Dutch tulipmania of the 1630s.  Stylistically, the bubble design is a borrowing from the nineteenth century bouffant gown which featured a silhouette made of a wide, full skirt resembling a hoop skirt, sometimes with a hoop or petticoat support underneath the skirt.   While bouffant gowns could be tea (mid-calf) or floor length, bubble skirts truncate the look hemlines tend to be well above the knee.  Perhaps with a little more geometric accurately, the design is known also as the “puffball” and, in an allusion to oriental imagery, the “harem” skirt.  Fashion designer Christian La Croix became fond of the look and a variation included in his debut collection was dubbed “le pouf” but, in English, the idea of the “poof skirt” never caught on.

Lindsay Lohan in Catherine Malandrino silk pintuck dress with bubble skirt, LG Scarlet HDTV Launch Party, Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, April 2008.

It must have been a memorable silhouette in the still austere post-war world, a sheath dress made voluminous with layers of organza or tulle, the result a cocoon-like dress with which Pierre Cardin and Hubert de Givenchy experimented in 1954 and 1958, respectively. A year later, Yves Saint Laurent for Dior added the combination of a dropped waist dress and bubble skirt; post-modernism had arrived.  For dressmakers, bubble fashion presented a structural challenge and mass-production became economically feasible only because of advances in material engineering, newly available plastics able to be molded in a way that made possible the unique inner construction and iconic drape of the fabric.  For that effect to work, bubble skirts must be made with a soft, pliable fabric and the catwalk originals were constructed from silk, as are many of the high end articles available today but mass-market copies are usually rendered from cotton, polyester knits, satin or taffeta.

The bubble in the 1950s by Pierre Cardin (left), Givenchy (centre) & Dior (right).

The bubble skirt was never a staple of the industry in the sense that it would be missing from annual or seasonal ranges, sometimes for a decade or more and sales were never high, hardly surprising given it was not often a flattering look for women above a certain age, probably about seven or eight.  Deconstructing the style hints at why: a hemline which loops around and comes back up, created sometimes by including a tighter bottom half with the bulk of additional material above, it formed a shape not dissimilar to a pillow midway through losing its stuffing.  For that reason, models caution the look is best when combined with a sleek, fitted top to emphasize the slimness of the waistline, cinched if necessary with a belt some sort of delineating tie.  The bubble needs to be the feature piece too, avoiding details or accessories which might otherwise distract; if one is wearing a partially un-stuffed pillow, the point needs to be made it’s being done on purpose.

The bubble is adaptable although just because something can be done doesn’t mean it should be done.  The bubble skirt has however received the Paris Hilton imprimatur so there’s that.

On the catwalks however, again seemingly every decade or so, the bubble returns, the industry relying on the short attention span of consumers of pop culture inducing a collective amnesia which allows many resuscitations in tailoring to seem vaguely original.  Still, if ever a good case could be made for a take on a whimsical 1950s creation to re-appear, it was the staging of the first shows of the 2020-2021 post-pandemic world and the houses responded, Louis Vuitton, Erdem, Simone Rocha and JW Anderson all with billowy offerings, even seen was an improbably exuberant flourish of volume from Burberry.  What appeared on the post-Covid catwalk seemed less disciplined than the post-war originals, the precise constraints of intricately stitched tulle forsaken to permit a little more swish and flow, a romantic rather than decadent look.  The reception was generally polite but for those who hoped for a different interpretation, history suggests the bubble will be back in a dozen-odd years.

Frock

Frock (pronounced frok)

(1) A gown or dress worn by a female, consisting of a skirt and a cover for the upper body.

(2) A loose outer garment worn by peasants and workers; a smock.

(3) A coarse outer garment with large sleeves, worn by monks in some religious orders; a habit.

(4) In naval use, a sailor's jersey.

(5) In military use, an undress regimental coat (now less common).

(6) To clothe (somebody) in a frock.

(7) To make (somebody) a cleric (to invest with priestly or clerical office).

(8) In US military use, to grant to an officer the right to the title and uniform of a rank before the formal appointment is conferred.

1300–1350: From the Middle English frok, frokke and froke and twelfth century Old French froc (a monk’s habit; clothing, dress), from the Frankish hrok and thought probably related to the Old Saxon and Old High German hroc (mantle, coat) which appears to have spawned the Old Norse rokkr, the Old English rocc, and Old Frisian rokk.  Most etymologists seem to think it’s most likely all ultimately derived from the primitive rug or krek (to spin or weave); the alternative view suggests a link with the Medieval Latin hrocus, roccus and rocus (all of which described types of coats) which they speculate was the source of the Old French from, again from the Old Frankish hroc and hrok (skirt, dress, robe), from the Proto-Germanic hrukkaz (robe, jacket, skirt, tunic).  That does seem at least plausible given the existence of the Old High German hroch and roch (skirt, dress, cowl), the German rock (skirt, coat), the Saterland Frisian Rok (skirt), the Dutch rok (skirt, petticoat), the Old English rocc (an over-garment, tunic, rochet), the Old Norse rokkr (skirt, jacket) and Danish rok (garment).  Another alternative (more speculative still) traces it from the Medieval Latin floccus, from the Classical Latin floccus (flock of wool).  The meaning "outer garment for women or children" was from the 1530s while frock-coat (also as frock-cost & frockcoat) dates from the 1820s, the garment itself fading from fashion a century later although revivals have been attempted every few decades, aimed at a rather dandified market ignored by most.  Frock & frocking are nouns & verbs, frocked is a verb and frockless, frocklike & frockish are adjectives; the noun plural is frocks.

Frocks and Brass Hats

The phrase “frocks and brass hats” was coined in the years immediately following World War I (1914—1918) in reaction to the large volume of memoirs, autobiographies and histories published by some of the leading politicians and military leaders involved in the conflict, the phrase derived from (1) the almost universal habit of statesmen of the age wearing frock coats and (2) the hats of senior military personnel being adorned with gold braid, emulating the physical polished brass of earlier times.  Many of the books were polemics, the soldiers and politicians writing critiques of the wartime conduct of each other.  Politicians no longer wear frock coats and although some of the hats of military top brass still feature a bit of braid, it’s now less often seen.  However, the term persists although of late, academics studying institutional conflict in government have extended it to “frock coats, mandarins and brass hats”, reflecting the increase in importance of the part played by public servants, especially the military bureaucracy, in such matters.  So structurally, the internecine squabbles within the creature of the state have changed, the most obvious causes the twin threads of (1) the politicization of the upper reaches of the public service and (2) the creation of so many organs of government as corporate entities which enable the frocks (the politicians) to distance themselves from unpalatable policies and decisions by asserting (when it suits them), the “independence” of such bodies.  Of course, such functionaries will find their “independence” counts for little if the frocks start to feel the heat; then brutally the axe will fall, just as it did on some of the Great War generals.

Men in frock coats: The “Big Four” at the Paris Peace Conference (1919-1920), outside the Foreign Ministry headquarters, Quai d'Orsay, Paris.  Left to right: David Lloyd George (1863–1945; UK prime-minister 1916-1922), Vittorio Orlando (1860–1952; Italian prime minister 1917-1919), Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929; French prime minister 1906-1909 & 1917-1920) and Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924; US president 1913-1921).

At the time, nothing quite like or on the scale of the Paris Peace Conference had ever been staged.  Only Orlando anticipated the future of fashion by preferring a lounge suit to a frock coat but he would be disappointed by the outcome of the conference, leaving early and to his dying day content his signature never appeared on the treaty’s final declaration, a document he regarded as flawed.  Not even John Kennedy (JFK, 1917–1963; US president 1961-1963) or Barack Obama (b 1961; US president 2009-2017) on their tours of European capitals received anything like the adulation Wilson enjoyed when he arrived in Paris in 1919.  His successors however were there more as pop-culture figures whereas Wilson was seen a harbinger of a "lasting peace", a thing of much significance to the French after four years of slaughter.  Ultimately Wilson's hopes would be dashed (in the US Senate as well as at the Quai d'Orsay's conference table) although, historians will likely continue to conclude his Nobel Peace Prize (1919) was more deserved than the one awarded to Obama (apparently on the basis he wasn't George W Bush (George XLIII, b 1946; US president 2001-2009)).  Lloyd George's ambitions in 1919 were more tempered by realism and he too regarded the terms of final document as a mistake, prophesying that because of the punitive terms imposed on the defeated Germany: “We shall have to fight another war again in 25 years' time.”  In that, he was correct, even if the expected wait was a little optimistic.  Only Clemenceau had reasons to be satisfied with what was achieved although, has his instincts been allowed to prevail, the terms of the Treaty of Versailles (1920) would have been more onerous still.  It was the Englishman Eric Geddes (1875–1937; First Lord of the Admiralty (the civilian head of the Royal Navy) 1917-1919) who coined the phrase "...squeeze the German lemon until the pips squeak." but it's doubtful that sentiment was ever far from Clemenceau's thoughts.

Lindsay Lohan in a nice frock.  V Magazine Black & White Ball, New York City, September 2011.

In idiomatic use, “frock” has proved as serviceable as the garment.  A “frock flick” is a film or television production noted for the elaborate costuming and most associated with costume dramas (typically sixteenth-nineteenth centuries) in which the frocks of the rich are depicted as big & extravagant.  To “frock up” is used by young women to describe “dressing-up” for some event or occasion and in the (male) gay community to refer either to much the same thing or cross-dressing.  A “cock in a frock” (“cocks in frocks” the collective) is a type of trans-woman (one without the relevant medical modification) and what used to be called a transvestite (a once technical term from psychiatry now (like “tranny”) thought derogatory except in historic use).  A “smock frock” was a garment of coarse, durable material which was worn over other clothing and most associated with agricultural and process workers (and usually referred to either as “smock” or “frock”.  In fashion there’s the “sun frock” (one of lightweight material which exposes more than the usual surface area of skin, often in a strappy or strapless style.  A “housefrock” was a piece of everyday wear form women which was self-explanatory: a simple, practical frock to be worn “around the house” and well suited to wear while performing “housework”.  “Underfrock” was a now archaic term for a slip or petticoat.  The A coat with long skirts, worn by men, now only on formal occasions.  The “frock coat” (also listed by some as the “Prince Albert coat”) is characterized by a knee-length skirt cut all around the base, ending just above the knee.  Among the middle & upper classes, it was popular during the Victorian and Edwardian eras (1830s–1910s) although they were widely into the 1920s.  Although some fashion houses may have had lines with detail differences, there was really no difference between a “cocktail dress” and a “cocktail frock” except the latter seems now to be used only humorously.

Variations on the theme of the cocktail dress: Lindsay Lohan in vintage Herve Leger at Arrivals For Cartier’s Declare Your Love Day VIP cocktail reception, Cartier Store, New York, June 2006 (left) and in black Dion Lee cocktail dress with illusion panels and an off-the-shoulder silhouette, January 2013 (right).

A cocktail dress does however differ from a cocktail gown because they straddle the gap between daywear and ball gowns.  Intended to be worn at formal or semi-formal occasions (classically of course, the “cocktail party”) including wedding receptions or dinner parties, they’re typically shorter in length than a gown, the hemline falling somewhere between just above the knee to mid-calf.  There’s no exact template for a cocktail dress but they should be identifiable by their simplicity and elegance, thus the utility of their versatility.  While not exactly post-modern, they appear in many fabrics and just about any style including empire, bandage, A-line or sack, featuring a range of necklines, sleeve lengths, and embellishments.  Historically, befitting the sophistication once associated with the cocktail party, the dresses were characterized by modesty and severity of line, the classic motif the tailored silhouette, relatively uncluttered by details.  Vogue magazine labeled the accessories (shoes, jewelery, a clutch and sometimes a wrap) the “cocktail dress ensemble” but in recent decades there’s been a rise in stylistic promiscuity and some discordant elements have intruded.

Men of the frock: Cardinal George Pell (1941-2023; left) and Benedict XVI (1927–2022; pope 2005-2013, pope emeritus 2013-2022; right) at an inter-faith meeting in Sydney, Australia, July 2008.

A “man of the frock” is a clergyman of some description (almost always of some Christian denomination) and the apparent anomaly of nuns never being described as “women of the frock” (despite always wearing something at least frock-like) is explained presumably by all women once being assumed to wear frocks.  To “defrock” (literally “to divest of a frock”) is in figurative use used widely to mean “formally to remove the rights and authority of a member of the clergy” and by extension this is casually applied also to “struck-off” physicians, lawyers etc.  “Disfrock” & “unfrock” are used as synonyms of “defrock” but none actually appear in Roman Catholic canon law, the correct term being “laicization” (ie “returned to the laity).  Despite the popular impression, the Vatican has revealed most acts of laicization are pursuant to the request of the priest and performed because they feel, for whatever reason, unable to continue in holy orders (ex priests marrying ex-nuns a thing and there must be some theological debate around whether they’ve been “brought together by God” or “tempted by the Devil”).  Defrock dates from the 1580s in the sense of “deprive of priestly garb” and was from the fifteenth century French défroquer, the construct being from de- (used her as a negative prefix) + froque (frock) and familiar also as the verb “defrocked”.  The modern English verb “frock” (supply with a frock) seems to have come into use only in the 1820s and was either a back-formation from defrock or an evolution from the noun.  The verb was picked up by the military and “to frock” is used also as a jocular form of “to dress”.

Swish

Swish (pronounced swish)

(1) Something smart or stylish (mostly UK & Commonwealth use and said historically to be most applied to things with shiny surfaces such as leather); sophisticated; fashionable; (figuratively) smooth.

(2) To move with or make a sibilant sound, as a slender rod cutting sharply through the air or as small waves washing on the shore.

(3) To rustle (especially of flowing fabrics, on the model of the sound made by moving silk).

(4) To move or behave in an exaggerated manner (often described as “effeminate” or “mincing”).

(5) To flourish, whisk, etc with a swishing movement or sound.

(6) To bring, take, cut, etc with such a movement or sound.

(7) To flog or whip (now rare).

(8) A movement (and sometimes (though not necessarily) the sound) of liquid flowing inside a container.

(9) In mathematics (as swish function), a mathematical activation function in data analysis.

(10) A stock or rod used for flogging or the stroke of such a device (now rare).

(11) A contemptuous term used to refer to an effeminate gay man (regarded as an offensive slur and now rare).

(12) A form of table tennis (ping-pong) able to be played both by people who are blind or vision impaired and by those who are sighted.

(13) A building material used mainly in West Africa and composed originally of mortar and mud or laterite; of late it has been made with a xix of earth & cement.

(14) In basketball, a successful shot that does not touch the rim or backboard.

(15) In slang (in and outside prisons), an alcoholic drink made (1) by fermenting whatever ingredients are available or (2) adding small quantities of water to “empty” bottles to obtain whatever alcohol content remains.

(16) As an interjection, a hissing or whistling sound, imitative or suggestive of something travelling quickly through the air.

1756: Of imitative origin, an onomatopoeia covering a range of sounds.  The intransitive verb in the sense of “move with a swish or flourish or with a sound like swish” was the first form, the transitive verb, used in the sense of “cause to swish” (hence “flourish, brandish”) in use by 1799.  Etymologists conclude it was almost certainly imitative of the sound made by something brushing against or through something else (the “rustle” of silk the classic example).  The most attractive derived form is probably the adjective swishity (characteristic of swish or swishing).  The swish noun emerged in the 1820s (as in “with a swish”) was expressive of the sound of something moving through the air, a development from the verb.  The use as a slur directed at “a particularly effeminate homosexual” was a creation of 1930s US slang, based presumably the idea of the stereotypical “mincing motion”.  The slang use meaning “to flog or last” (the noun swish later adapted to describe the whip) was in use by at least 1856 and despite citations, there little to suggest the origin was in the Royal Navy, that institution already having a rich lexicon of slang related to flogging.  Although the British Army formerly abolished flogging in 1881, it the navy it was only ever “suspended” although it's said no sentences have been imposed since 1879.  In idiomatic use, the noun swish-swash is now used to describe “a repeated swishing action or sound, going back and forth”.  An obsolete meaning, dating from the 1540s was “a weak, wishy-washy drink” although it’s documented that by the 1580s, a swish-swash was a “violent or swaggering person”.  From the connection to the weak drink came the use of swish to describe “an alcoholic beverage obtained by filling an (empty) cask from a distillery with water to leech out the residual liquor”.  Swish is a noun, verb & adjective, swisher is a noun & adjective, swishing is a noun & verb, swishness & swishiness are nouns, swished is a verb, swishest & swishity are adjectives and swishingly is an adverb; the noun plural is swishes.

Swishy Ping-Pong

Swish is a form of ping-pong which permits people who are blind or vision impaired to compete with the sighted on close to equal terms; the preferred description of Swish is Vision Impaired Table Tennis.  Played at both a recreational and competitive level, the idea is similar to mainstream ping-pong except that rather than the ball having to be hit over the net, it must travel along the table’s surface with the “net” set at a certain height to ensure players with various degrees of sight don’t enjoy an advantage over the blind.  Like “blind cricket”, the ball has a bell inside to make it audible and is roughly the size of a tennis ball, made of plastic with holes in it to amplify the sound.  The bats are rectangular with a handle (something like a cricket bat in miniature) with one of the long edges positioned flat against the table.  Like ping-pong, the game can be played either as singles or doubles with a variety of rules in competition ranging from single games to matches of up to eleven.  Some competitions exist for “mixed” teams (sighted and not) and there are "handicap" events in which the sighed competitors wear masks, rendering them completely blind.

The swishy skirt

Lindsay Lohan in three dresses illustrating the possibilities offered by the swishy skirt: thigh high (mini, left), calf length (midi, centre) and ankle length (maxi, right).

The movement of a swishy skirt tends to exaggerate the perception of the volume of fabric used and this can convey the impression of something intricately constructed and while elaborate underpinnings are possible, most are simply an A-line skirt, made with vertical seams, a waistband and hem, the ensemble typically secured with a zipper.  The design does however offer wide scope, not only in terms of length (swishiness increasing the more the hemline approaches the ankles) but the bulk of fabric used makes the style highly suited to the provision of pockets, a feature designers often avoid including in women’s clothing because if actually used, they can spoil the line.  In a swishy skirt, the pockets can be both larger and located lower (in the “swish zone”), meaning that unless really stuffed with stuff, the very presence of a pocket can often be imperceptible.  Designers however caution that pockets do need to be done with some precision; they need to be sufficiently deep and wide to accommodate the hand with the weight of anything put in the pocket to be borne by the waistband and not the more fragile.  As a general principle the pockets should be folded toward the front of the skirt although, anyone tempted to try the more challenging asymmetric pocket might prefer to make it a feature and reverse the geometry.  However it’s done, what matters is that any weight introduced into a pocket should not distort the silhouette.  A signature trick used in the making of swishy skirts is the “Hong Kong Finished waistband” (KHFW).  The KHFW is achieved by sewing a piece of fabric around the raw edge of another, the advantages being the edge does not then need to be turned under for a finish, the trick in the technique used by dressmakers being the use of bias tape or a seam binding product to wrap the raw edges of the seam allowances before pressing open the seams.  The KHFW is used on a wide variety of garments but it’s often the technique of choice with swishy skirts because it removes a layer from what is the bulkiest part of the construction.

How swishy is done:  The basic A-Line pattern (left) and a swishy skirt with pockets (right).

Bustle

Bustle (pronounced buhs-uhl)

(1) To move or act with a great show of energy (often followed by about).

(2) To abound or teem with something; display an abundance of something (often used as “bustling with” or bustled with”).

(3) Thriving or energetic or noisy activity; stir; ferment.

(4) In dressmaking, the fullness around or below the waist of a dress, as added by a peplum, bows, ruffles, etc.

(5) In nineteenth century dressmaking, (1) a pad, cushion, worn under the back of a woman's skirt to expand, support, and display the full cut and drape of a dress; (2) a metal or whalebone framework worn by women, typically only protruding from the rear as opposed to the earlier more circular hoops.

(6) In the design of electronic office equipment, a cover to protect and hide the back panel of a computer or other office machine.

(7) In automotive design, latterly as “bustle-back”. a mid-twentieth century coachwork motif which integrated into the rear of the bodywork the previously separately-mounted trunks used to store luggage;  In the UK, the style was used in a tiny number of limousines until 1992 and in the US, there was an unfortunate revival in the 1970s.

(8) In the design of armored vehicles, an additional, external storage space added to the rear of a vehicle (on a tank, at the rear of the turret).

(9) In sailboat design, as bustle stern, a reference to a stern with a blister at the waterline designed to prevent the stern from "squatting" when getting underway.

1570s: The verb was from the Middle English bustlen, bustelen & bostlen (to hurry aimlessly along; bustling, noisy or excited activity) perhaps a frequentative of Middle English bresten (to rush, break), from Old English bersten (rushing about) of uncertain origin but perhaps (1) from the Old Norse busla & bustla (to splash about), (2) from the dialectal word busk from Old Norse būask (to prepare; to make oneself ready), (3), from the obsolete word buskle (energetically to prepare something) or (4), from the verb busk via the sixteenth century frequentative form buskle.  John Milton (1608–1674) in the 1630s used bustle to suggest "activity, stir, fuss, commotion.  In modern English use, the word is often heard in the phrase “hustle & bustle”.  Related forms include the noun bustler, the verbs bustled & bustling, the adjectival form of bustling not noted until 1819.

Profile of the bustle dress: 1885 American example rendered in silk with rhinestones in a metal frame.

The origin of the use of bustle as a noun referring to "padding in the upper back part of a skirt" is of uncertain origin but may be connected with the German Buschel (bunch, pad) or (more speculatively) may be a special adaptation of the verb, a tribute to the "rustling” the fabric of the dresses made while in motion.  Apparently first used in 1788, the bustle was a specifically-shaped frame, stuffed with cotton, feathers etc, worn by women to kill two birds with one stone: affording a greater rotundity to the hips and emphasizing the narrowness of the of the waist-line.  It had the added practical attraction of causing the folds of the skirt to hang more gracefully and prevent the fabric from interfering with the feet when walking.

Fashions change: the bustle in the late nineteenth century.

Bustle dresses obviously pre-dated modern synthetic fabrics which can be engineered to assume and retain a defined shape so were created by using an internal frame, an exoskeleton assembled usually from metal, cane or bone using essentially the same technique as coachbuilders in the twentieth century, the space frame providing support and describing the arc of the desired curves.  The earliest of the breed were less exaggerated that what was to follow, used more to allow the fabric to fan-out and create a train and it was later, in the mid-nineteenth century, that the loops and hoops grew in number and size to allow the multi-gathered layers now most associated with the style.  It was about this time that trains began to retreat and the shape of the bustle adopted the more pronounced humped shape on the back of the skirt immediately below the waist, the voluminous material tending now to fall straight to the floor in a cut designers at the time called the “waterfall effect”.  A wonderfully elegant style in which a lady could waft around a ballroom, taking a seat could be difficult, trips to the loo presumably a matter of gymnastics.

As a piece of fashion, the bustle rose and fell in popularity, its most dramatic flourish in the late 1880s when the most extreme of the bustles were built with proportions even more extraordinary than the originals of the late 1700s.  Absurdity having been achieved, the bigger bustles were banished to the of the wedding dress where it remains to this day, used both to better display a clinched waist and sometimes support a train.  The engineering however endured into the twentieth century, structural support still required for what was were now only slightly exaggerated interpretations of the female form but by 1908 it was noted that but for wedding dresses, the bustle was extinct, supplanted by the long corset.  

Portrait of Maria Carolina of Austria (1752-1814), circa 1767, by Martin van Meytens (1695–1770).

In the late 1700s, the bustle was actually quite modest compared with the earlier pannier which seems to have existed only as court dress and then rarely, reserved for the most formal occasions.  Offering the advantage of rendering the skirt as a large, almost flat, square or rectangular shape in the manner of a painting, it permitted a large surface on which elaborate designs or embroidery could be displayed, transforming the wearer into something of a walking (or at least standing) billboard. 

The style began somewhere in Europe in the early 1700s, historians of fashion in several countries laying claim although whether that's as a proud boast or admission of guilt isn’t clear.  The term seems to have been applied retrospectively as a point of differentiation from the bustle, “pannier dresses” not described as such until 1869.  In their most imposing iterations, the panniers could extend the skirt by almost a metre (39 inches) either side so there may be a comeback for what would presumably be a practical garment in the #metoo era.  The word pannier dates from circa 1300, from the Old French panier & paniere (basket), from the Latin pānārium (breadbasket), the construct being pānis (bread) + ārium (place for).  As originally used in French, panniers were the wicker baskets slung either side of a beast of burden, the name still used to describe the side-mounted containers available as accessories for bicycles and motor-bikes.

Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte (A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte) (1884-1886) by Georges Seurat (1859-1891).

Seurat’s most famous painting is an indication of the state of the bustle art in the 1880s but is best remembered as an exemplar of the technique of divisionism (sometimes called chromoluminarism), most associated with Neo-Impressionist painting and defined by the colors being separated into individual dots or daubs, the optical result created in the brain of the viewer.  The eye is an outgrowth of the brain and, having “learned” the nature of color, what the eye sees, the brain intuitively blends and mixes, seeing the painting not as an agglomeration of dots but as an image.  The final processing is not by the painter but the viewer, an early example of a deconstruction of the the reader constructing the text, a direction of thought which would come to intrigue many theorists, some of whom unfortunately pursued the concept a little too long and much too often.

Playboy magazine, May 1976.

In what was presumably intended as a post-modern touch, Playboy magazine superimposed an image of a slightly bustled Nancy Cameron (January 1974 Playmate of the Month) on the painting for their May 1976 cover, the bunny logo hidden among the dots.  It’s not known how many of Playboy's readers were sufficiently taken with divisionism to devote much time to rabbit hunting.

1928 Mercedes-Benz Nürburg 460 K Pullman Limousine (W08).

The origin of the bustle-back style on motor cars was organic, a evolution from the luggage trunks which, borrowing from the practice used with horse-drawn carriages of many types, were attached to the rear, a practical arrangement which afforded easy access and didn’t impinge on passenger space.  Sometimes the trunks were provided by the manufacturer or coachbuilder but often, especially on lower-prices vehicles, were from third-party suppliers and not always specifically designed for the purpose, being made variously from steel, timber or leather and even woven with wicker.

1936 Studebaker Dictator 4-door sedan.

As all-metal bodies gradually replaced the mixture of steel, wood and fabric which had typified construction in the early days of the industry, the function of the once separate trunk was retained but integrated into the coachwork.  Ascetically, some were more successful than others but the trend did coincide with the move towards more sloping rear coachwork, replacing the upright designs which had been a direct inheritance from the horse-drawn stage coaches and this would have an important influence on what came to be known as the bustle-back motif.

1939 Lincoln Zephyr V12 Coupe (left) and 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K (W29) Special Roadster (originally delivered to King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan, right).

The sweep of the fastback line did present an obvious stylistic challenge.  To augment one with the bustled trunk would defeat the purpose but the functional advantages of the added storage had come to be appreciated so the solution was complete integration, the once discernibly separate trunk now wholly encapsulated.  The price to be paid for that was the elongation of the rear body but, in the era of streamlining, the market took well to this latest incarnation of modernism and the style turned into a profitable niche for Detroit, the two-door “business coupe” long a favorite of travelling salesmen who were happy with the sacrifice of the back seat to provide an even more commodious trunk (boot) with which to secure samples of wares.

1953 Ford Zodiac (Mark 1) & 1959 Mercedes-Benz 220 SE (W180).

By the early 1950s, a “three-box” form had evolved and it would become for several generations the standard for the mainstream sedan.  Typified by the Ford Zephyr & Zodiac (1951-1956) and the Mercedes-Benz “pontoons” (W105 / W120 / W121 /W128 / W180) (1951-1962), the style was described as “one loaf of bread atop another”.  Although many couldn’t resist embellishing the simplicity with fins and other unnecessary stuff, the basic outline endured for decades although it did tend to the "longer, lower and wider".

1954 Bentley Mark IV (left), 1963 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III (centre) & 1968 Daimler DS420 (right).

Not all however saw the need to advance beyond the bustle which, by an accident of economics, had come to define the traditional English limousine.  While mass-market vehicles evolved quickly with model cycles as little as 3-4 years, the low-volume and substantially hand-made limousines typically remained in production for sometimes a decade or more, reflecting the time it took to amortize the capital investment.  In the post-war years, Austin, Armstrong Siddeley, Bentley, Daimler, Rolls-Royce & Vanden Plas all persisted although production levels, never high, dwindled increasingly as the bustle-back came to be seen as an antiquated relic and by 1965, even Rolls-Royce had all but abandoned the bustle, only the low-volume Phantom V still maintaining the link to the pre-war style.

The choices in 1968: Vanden Plas Princess 4-litre Limousine (left), NSU Ro80 (centre) & Daimler Majestic Major DR450 (right).

Emblematic of the troubles which beset British industry in the era, the most obviously antique of the English bustle-backs, the Vanden Plas Princess 4-litre Limousine, was still on sale in 1968 by which time that glimpse of the next century, the NSU Ro80, had been in showrooms for over a year.  The Princess, still with a split windscreen, was a (mildly) updated version of the Austin Sheerline, introduced in 1947 when it was a genuinely new design although even then, few would have been surprised had they been told it came from before the war.  The eventual longevity wasn't planned but rather a product of the uncertainty in the future of corporate structure the industry would assume, plans for a successor put on hold, the same fate which befell the only slightly more modern-looking but remarkably rapid Daimler Majestic Major which also enjoyed a stay of execution until 1968.       

However, their new rarity made the bustle-back eventually an attraction, the very exclusivity creating a receptive and surprisingly wide market segment which included undertakers, wedding planners, Lord Mayors and anyone else to whom the sense of lost elegance and whiff of wealth appealed.  Jaguar understood and responded in 1968 with the Daimler DS420 which didn’t encourage any imitators but there was room for one and it enjoyed a long, lucrative life, remaining in production until 1992.  Over five thousand were built.

1966 Mercedes-Benz 600 (W100, left) & 1962 Rolls-Royce Phantom V by Mulliner Park Ward (right).

The traditionalists didn’t however always insist on tradition.  Even before Mercedes-Benz had shown their 600 at the 1963 Frankfurt Motor Show, coachbuilders Mulliner Park Ward had built some of the 832 Rolls-Royce Phantom Vs without the pronounced bustle-back which adorned most.  Nothing of course matched the austerity of line of the 600, the most severe interpretation the “three-box” form ever applied to a limousine and, as an alternative to the bustle-back, MPW offered "de-bustled" variations on the theme until the last of the 374 Phantom VIs was built in 1990. 

1965 Oldsmobile 98 two-door hardtop.

Fins began to shrink from the “three box” US cars in the early 1960s and were gone by mid-decade.  Having to go in some direction, the tails of the full-sized US cars noticeably lengthened, matching the growth at the front.  Aesthetically, the long hoods (bonnets) did have their attraction but were hardly an engineering necessity.  Although the biggest US V8s were wide and heavy, they weren’t, by either historic or even contemporary European standards, especially long yet in some of the full-sized cars of the era, a V16 would have fitted and there were those at Cadillac, recalling the genuine exclusivity the sixteen cylinder engines lent the marquee during the 1930s, who hankered for one and they actually built some V12 prototypes before corporate reality bit.  They contented themselves instead with a gargantuan 500 cubic inch (8.2 litre) V8 although another reality would soon bite that too.

The 1961 Cadillac: The long (left) and slightly less long (right) of it. 

Whether in response to or in anticipation of some owners preferring their Cadillac in a more conveniently sized package, between 1961-1963, a “short-deck” option was made available on certain body styles.  Offered first on the six-window Sedan deVille, an encouraging 3,756 were built so the option was in 1962 offered on the four-window Sixty Two Town Sedan but sales actually dropped to 2600, the decline in interest confirmed the next year when only 1575 of the four-window Park Avenue Sedan deVille were sold.  Using the same 129.5 inch (3289 mm) wheelbase as the regular models but eight inches (200 mm) shorter in overall length (215 vs 223 inches (5461 vs 5664 mm)), space utilization was obviously a little better but the market had spoken.  With fewer than eight-thousand of the short-deck models sold across three seasons while the standard editions shipped in the tens of thousands, the flirtation with (slightly) more efficient packaging was abandoned for 1964; in the course of the following decade, Cadillacs would grow another seven inches (178 mm) and gain over 400 lb (181 kg).

1971 Holden HG Premier (left) & 1968 Holden HK Brougham (right).

In Australia, Holden, General Motors's (GM) local outpost, took the opposite approach, the Brougham (1968-1971) created by extending the tail of the less exalted Premier by 8 inches (200 mm), the strange elongation a hurried and far from successful response to the Ford Fairlane (1967-2007).  The 1967 Fairlane had been crafted by stretching the wheelbase of the Falcon sedan from 111 inches (2819 mm) to 116 (2946 mm) and tarting-up the interior.  Ford had since 1965 been locally assembling the full-sized Galaxies for the executive market but tariffs and the maintenance of the Australian currency peg at US$1.12 meant profitability was marginal, the locally concocted Fairlane, much more lucrative, produced as it was with high local content and a miniscule development cost.  The Fairlane name was chosen because of the success the company had had in selling first the full-sized Fairlanes (nicknamed by locals as the “tank Fairlane”) between 1959-1962 and later the compact version (1962-1965).

1977 Ford LTD Silver Monarch (P6).

The massive success of the 1967 car and its successors prompted Ford to cease local assembly of the Galaxie and revert to importing fully built-up cars for the small segment of the market which wanted the bigger vehicles, including the government executive fleets.  Available with both small and big-block V8s, the Galaxies, now badged as Galaxie-LTDs, would remain available until 1973 when Ford Australia created their own LTD (1973-2007), giving the Falcon’s wheelbase a final stretch to 121 inches (3073 mm) and adding the novelty of a 24 hour analogue clock, lashings of real leather and fake timber along with that status symbol of the 1970s: the padded vinyl roof.

Lindsay Lohan photo-shoot by Tom Munro (b 1964) for Bustle, March 2024.

The “malaise era” bustle-backs (1980-1987) by Cadillac, Imperial and Lincoln.

The US cars of the decade between 1973-1983 (some say it lasted a bit longer) were called “malaise era” cars, named after a thoughtful but perhaps unfortunate speech President Jimmy Carter (b 1924; US president 1977-1981) delivered in July 1979.  The president didn't actually utter the word "malaise" but people listen to what politicians mean as much as what they say and the word came to be associated with his unhappy, single-term administration.  Not yet able substantively much to improve the dynamics of the cars, Detroit thought of a distraction: the bustle-back.  It proved a short-lived fad although one better remembered that some of what had gone before and much of what would follow.

The 1980 Cadillac Seville was first, the advertising copy even trying to justify the appearance by claiming the design offered “more usable trunk space”, something which could neither be proved nor disproved which was good, given it offered 14.47 (.409 m³) cubic feet of space whereas last year’s model had 14.9 (.421 m³).  Still, what one got was “more usable”.  Cadillac were explicit about their plagiarism, the Seville’s lines based not on just any bustle-back but one with the most severe lines, the Hooper-bodied Rolls-Royces of the post-war years.  The critics were divided: some not liking it and some hating it, a spread of opinion seemingly shared by buyers, sales never matching those of its more conventional predecessor although there were other factors in the lukewarm response such as the switch to front wheel drive and some reliability issues with the power-train.  Production of the bustle-back Seville ceased in 1985; sales of its successor were higher.

Chrysler always claimed the design of the 1981 Imperial was locked-in long before their designers had laid eyes on the new Seville but it wasn’t until 1981 it was in the showrooms.  Based on the competent J-body Cordoba platform, it was offered only as a two-door coupé with a fuel-injected 318 cubic inch (5.2 litre) V8 and an automatic transmission.  After 1955, Chrysler had run Imperial as a separate division in an attempt to gain the cachet of Cadillac and Lincoln but, despite early success, the experiment failed and the brand was retired in 1975.  The bustle-back Imperial (1981-1983) ostensibly revived the division and the car was well-equipped, including bits and pieces from Cartier although its best-remembered association with celebrity was the “Frank Sinatra Edition”.  Unexpectedly, a brief foray onto the fastest of the NASCAR ovals proved the bustle-back’s aerodynamic efficiency; it achieved an impressive top-speed despite not using the highest-powered engine.  It wasn’t enough to save the brand which was shut down for the last time in 1983 although Chrysler did continue to use “Imperial” on the odd tarted-up model and surprised everyone in 2006 by presenting an Imperial concept car.  Criticized at the time because it was so obviously influenced by the Rolls-Royce Phantom (the retrospective VII) and a pastiche of many clichés, if one didn't mind that sort of thing, it seemed a quite accomplished execution.  

Ford’s retro-take arrived last in 1982 but the Lincoln lingered longest, not replaced until 1987.  The bustle-back Lincoln actually used the most restrained implementation of the idea but, unable to resist the temptation to add lipstick, the designers applied to the trunk the faux spare tyre bump which had been on so many Continentals since the 1955 Mark II first sought to pay tribute to the 1940 original although this was the first time a Lincoln without a Continental badge had been humped. In common with the experience of the other manufacturers, the car attracted fewer buyers than its predecessor or successor and, while Detroit have pursued some other retro-projects with mixed results, none have attempted another reprise of the bustle-back.

Pre and post butt-lift, the 2001 and 2009 BMW 7 Series.

Nor has anyone else.  Although the 2001 BMW 7 Series (E65) is sometimes labelled a bustle-back (or, in more twenty-first century style, a bustle-butt), it really never was although, having allowed a decent interval to elapse so as not to (further) upset the designer, at the first facelift, it was toned down a little.