Fashion To Die For: 9 Style Trends That Seriously Harmed And Even Killed People Throughout History
Carley Suthers
·12 min read
Throughout history, people have gone to great lengths to fit in with others — especially regarding fashion. For many, the desperate need to be like the rest of society outweighed the risk of physical harm and even death...
From arsenic being in literally everything to the radium-infused beauty products of the early 20th century, following trends could be a perilous endeavor. So let's hop in a time machine and take a look at 9 of the most dangerous (and deadly) fashion trends throughout history:
1.Green dresses:
However, it wasn't only deadly for those who chose to wear the poisonous color. Matilda Scheurer, a 19-year-old factory worker who was responsible for coating artificial flowers in green dye, died in a manner that terrified the general public. It was reported that she vomited “green waters” and that the whites of her eyes turned green as well before she eventually convulsed and passed away with “an expression of great anxiety.”
One would generally believe that reports like these would make the public think twice about their favorite green outfit...but that wasn't the case. Wearers believed that as long as they didn't lick the fabrics, their health wouldn't suffer. Doctors quickly figured out that the dye was harming — if not outright killing — people, with the British Medical Journal reporting, "Well may the fascinating wearer of it be called a killing creature. She actually carries in her skirts poison enough to slay the whole of the admirers she may meet with in half a dozen ball-rooms." However, as is sadly still the case in modern medical situations, many individuals believed doctors were lying.
It wasn't until almost the turn of the 20th century that the public's health concerns outweighed their love of fashion. Despite almost a century of tragic deaths, regulations were finally put into effect in 1895, at which point the rise of synthetic dyes made the move away from arsenic much easier for large companies.
2.Venetian ceruse:
3.Crinolines:
However, crinolines caused tragedy in a variety of other ways, too. In 1864, an Irish newspaper reported the death of a factory worker who was mangled when a machine caught her crinoline, “Her dress was caught upon the shaft, and she was pulled to it, and revolved with the shaft two or three minutes before the machinery could be stopped. She was mortally injured in the spine. No limbs were broken. She died at home in two hours after the occurrence. A witness stated that her dress would not have been caught but for the crinoline pressing it out.”
Deaths due to crinoline were so prominent that the New York Times claimed, “an average of three deaths per week from crinolines in conflagration, ought to startle the most thoughtless of the privileged sex; and to make them, at least, extraordinarily careful in their movements and behaviour, if it fails… to deter them from adopting a fashion so fraught with peril."
However, these tragedies did nothing to deter individuals from wearing crinolines. It was only when the thinner "bustle" skirt came in style several years later that the fashion world forgot about crinolines.
4.Belladonna eye drops:
5.Mercury-treated hats:
6.Edwardian collars:
7.Chopines:
8.Radioactive makeup:
9.Corsets:
In Fashionably Fatal, Summer Strevens noted, “corsets caused indigestion, constipation, frequent fainting from difficulty in breathing and even internal bleeding… inhibited breathing, giving rise to the Victorian ‘heaving bosom’, was indicative of pressure upon the lungs, while the other internal organs, forced to shift from their natural position to accommodate the new skeletal shape, were subject to damage.”
Not only were women's bodies permanently damaged from corsets, but deaths also occurred due to the injuries sustained from over-lacing. In 1903, the New York Times revealed the cause of death for 42-year-old Mary Halliday, who was originally thought to have had a fatal seizure, “two pieces of corset steel were found in her heart, their total length being eight and three-quarter inches. Where they rubbed together the ends were worn to a razor edge by the movement of her body.”
The popularity of corsets began to fade after World War I due to the rise of the flapper movement, which focused on a more androgynous body shape.
Which one of these deadly fashion fads surprised you the most? Do you know of any other dangerous historical trends? Let us know in the comments!
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