Overview
A farthingale is an under-structure, not an outer garment: the Spanish form was a conical petticoat stiffened with hoops of cane or whalebone, while the later French form was a padded roll or wheel that thrust the skirt out flat at the hips.
How it is worn
It is tied on at the waist beneath the petticoats and gown so the outer skirt falls over its shape rather than the body’s; the wheel farthingale held the skirt out horizontally before dropping it straight down. Sitting and passing through doorways took practice.
History
The Spanish farthingale reached England by the 1540s and the drum-shaped French farthingale dominated the court of Elizabeth I. It fell from fashion in the early seventeenth century, the ancestor of the later hoop and crinoline.