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Queen guitarist, astrophysicist and wildlife campaigner Brian May is a man of diverse interests, but his latest project, a book on the history of the crinoline, is perhaps his most astonishing yet.

Around 1840, skirts began to widen – slowly at first, but within a decade a hem could measure as much as 33ft round. To achieve the look, a woman’s legs might be encased in 15lb of muslin, calico, flannel and horsehair – a condition that was as hot as it was unhygienic.

There were several early crackpot schemes designed to relieve the burden, including cane, which was prone to snapping and made one wearer think there was a terrier biting her ankles, and then rubber air tubes, which a maid or long-suffering husband would have to inflate via a pair of bellows.

Source: A visual history of crinolines – fashion’s most magnificent disaster