Tournure

A French word that is practically untranslatable, also known as faux cul. It is an elastic bulge, form or bustle, to be worn under a skirt. Very fashionable at the end of the nineteenth century, when the volume of the fabric was entirely gathered in the back, to form an exaggeratedly arched silhouette. It reappeared sporadically throughout the entire twentieth century, especially for evening wear. In the 1940s Balenciaga used the tournure, and at the end of the 1980s, Chanel, Balmain and Lacroix rediscovered it. For the 1993-94 season, it was used by Yohji Yamamoto and Vivienne Westwood.