Used to raise and secure the hem of a skirt off the ground
Category
Victorian
Made/Created
Date made
circa 1870 - circa 1900
Time Period
Victorian
Place
Continent
North America
Notes
Mechanism:
The two fluted cups clamp onto the fabric hem
The ring handle is held in the hand
The sliding collar locks the arms together, gripping the fabric
The skirt is lifted several inches off the ground
This prevented:
Mud damage
Wear from dragging
Tearing
Soiling in streets (which were often dirty)
Ethnography
Notes
Victorian skirt lifters illustrate how women navigated the physical and social challenges of nineteenth-century urban environments. Designed to protect long skirts from mud and contamination, these devices allowed women to maintain cleanliness and respectability while moving through public spaces. They represent an intersection of fashion, technology, gender norms, and industrial modernity. As tools of everyday bodily management, skirt lifters reflect both the constraints imposed by Victorian dress and the adaptive strategies women employed to preserve autonomy and social identity.
General Notes
Note Type
Description
Note
This brass skirt lifter was used to elevate and secure the hem of long skirts while walking outdoors, protecting garments from mud and wear. The device features spring-loaded arms terminating in decorative fluted grips, with a sliding collar mechanism to secure fabric. Skirt lifters were essential accessories for Victorian women navigating unpaved streets. This example reflects practical domestic engineering combined with decorative metalwork typical of the late nineteenth century.