Female fashions, at their absurd indelicacy: Ladies of rank wore
"pads" to affect pregnancy for married ladies, widows, even ladies
who never had husbands. Pregnant displays everywhere: all levels
of society, parks, theatres. There was the "cork rump":
ladies thought it elegant to attach to the rump-end of their dresses
by sewing pieces of cork under the straps of their stays to create a
protuberant rump (simultaneously making their waists appear smaller)!
Men were no sluggards to the bum game and used cork rumps, too!