You've maybe heard that beauty kills and in this MyTake you've some examples on fashion trends through history that was dangerous, unhealthy and sometimes even deadly. If you think the modern fashion trends today are making you suffer for the beauty, you should be grateful you didn't live in the past where these fashion trends were more common than what it's today.PS! If you're eating right now, I recommend you to stop doing that while reading this, so I don't ruin your appetite. Some of these things are a bit gross. I also want to add that some of these trends were more common than others and that not all of them were common. Some were only for the riches.
1) Mercury hat
Madhatter from the story Alice in Wonderland.
Have you ever heard the phrase "Mad as a hatter" or about the character Madhatter from Alice in the wonderland? These terms and phrases are coming from reality, so it's not something the movie makers or author have invented. In the 19th century it was common to use mercury which is poisonous in hats to make them stiffer and in a better shape. It was mostly the hat makers that got affected.Mercury could affect the body organs like the heart, brain, lungs, kidneys and sometimes it also affected the immune system. It also could cause death. Why the phrase says "Mad as a hatter" is because the poison could affect how the person worked mentally too. Other symptoms that could occur was memory loss, depression, hallucination, anxiety, insecurity, temper, tremor and slower speech. The symptoms came gradually and could kill you slowly.
It was common to use mercury as an ingredients to the hats in the 19th century.
2) Corsets
Former queen of Norway; Maud in her corset.
Corsets have been modern in many time periods. If you've seen pictures from the 1500s, 1700s and 1800s for instance you've probably noticed the small waist they had. While some corsets were fine, other were deadly. The laced corsets could be tightened. Sometimes the corsets were so tight that the wearer had difficulty to breath properly and if she sat down she could faint. Eating while wearing these wasn't comfortable either. In addition too tight corsets could damage the organs. If the corset had metal pieces on it, it could stab the organs and cause bleeding. Norway's former queen; Maud is famous for wearing corsets and although it didn't kill everyone, it wasn't the most comfortable outfit to wear.
An illustration on before and after use of extremely tight corsets.
3) Lead makeup
Elizabeth 1 of England who was a natural pale redhead used lead makeup to cover up scars and other spots on her skin. Looking pale also symbolized wealth and she wanted the feature more visible. The makeup aged her skin.
Both Europeans and Asians in certain time periods wanted to look as pale as possible. Being pale or white symbolized wealth because it meant they didn't have to work outdoor in the fields getting a tan or become dirty in the mines like the poor. If you were rich, you could afford to stay much indoor doing lesser work and avoid sun exposure. To make the desired feature more visible makeup was used in addition to other methods that could be used at that time like medical leeches to suck the blood out of the person making them paler.The makeup they often used to appear whiter was made of lead that they didn't know was dangerous at that time. In addition, they painted blue veins on their hands to appear paler and achieve a translucent looking skin. Lead is poisonous and can also be a slow killer like mercury where the symptoms came gradually. Symptoms like brain damage, damage in the nerve system, headache, appetite loss, anemia, insomnia, limp wrist and a metallic taste in the mouth could occur. It also could damage your skin.
In ancient China and in other Asian countries being light-skinned or pale was the ideal too, not only in Europe. The Picture is from "Empress of China" played by Fan Bing bing.
4) The crinoline
Accidents could happen and if you stumbled it could be severe.
The crinoline was a cage used under the skirt or dress to make the skirt stand more out and widen it. Since it was a cage you could technically catch animals like how death could catch the caged you if you wore it. Mary of Scots had a dog that hid under her skirt on her execution day. So you could hide a lot of stuffs under there.With a crinoline, you could easier stumble in stairs, furniture etc. That meant you could fall and injury yourself ending up with a broken leg or two. It could also put you on fire if you stumbled in a table with a candle on it and it was difficult to escape it in a such restricting attire. Another deadly thing that could happen was if you with an accident stumbled in a carriage and were stuck there. Not many would survive that. A drowning accident during a boat trip could also the result death. These heavy things aren't suitable for swimming.
5) Stiff high collar
Stiff high collars were made of cardboard.
Men didn't get away with the fashion's and beauty's harsh reality either. In the 19th century, the high detachable collar was in fashion for men and it was always stiff. It could cut off circulation. If the man's head fell forward, he felt asleep or were drunk, he could be choked to death. It was also sometimes very pointy and stiff that it could give you cuts.
6) Green clothes
To achieve a nice green dye to the clothing people used arsenic and sometimes cobber too mixed with it. Arsenic is poisonous. It could cause sores so you could absorb more of it. If you breathed in enough arsenic it could make you vomit, ulcers and affect your nerve system. It could also cause death. So green clothing wasn't necessary innocent.
Poisoning could make you very sick.
7) Foot binding
The shoes often looked like this.
In ancient China, foot binding was a thing. Small feet, also known as "lotus feet", on females symbolized wealth because richer you were, lesser you had to work which meant you didn't need to move yourself so much. Rich people also had servants that could help them and in a patriarchy society, many things was a man's job.The process could start at the age of two to seven years old, since the feet are softer in a young age. The feet were first soaked in either herbs, vinegar or urine depending on what the family preferred to use to soften the feet. Then all the toes except the big toe were folded down and the arch of the foot bent back. The process took several years. With time they used tighter bandages and used several foot baths until the feet became the ideal shape in ca. 7 cm.
The practice cut the circulation to the toe and gave the feet life-threatening infections. The practice itself also caused a lot of pain. The idea was to have the foot so small that it didn't look like a foot anymore, but a continuing leg, so gangrenous toes were seen as fine at that time. If the toe fell off it was seen as a good thing, something it could cause. If the girl or woman died because of the procedure she died at least with nice feet according to people at that time.
How people's feet looked like after foot binding.
8 ) Rib removal
How regular rib cages looks like before removal. After removal, it would be fewer ribs.
A rib removal surgery isn't a risk-free procedure. You risked complications and it could make your organs more vulnerable depending on how many you removed. But some people aren't happy with their waist and therefore undergoes a so risking surgery to achieve an hourglass figure.
9) Neck rings
A young girl from Burma with neck rings.
Neck rings are still used today in some Burmese and African tribes. But they aren't as common today as in the past. The world has become globalized and the Western culture have influenced many people from many different countries. It has also influenced fashion. People there also have different preferences like everyone else, so not everyone has the same fashion taste or practice.The point with the neck ring is to make the neck appear more elongated because it's seen as beautiful in some cultures.
Some African tribes also use neck rings.The heavy neck rings are lowering the collarbones and is actually not extending the neck. They start wearing it in a young age with only a few rings and as they get older, more rings get added. Since the metal rings are supporting the neck, the muscles don't get used enough which is weakening them. So your neck wouldn't be comfortable without the rings and sometime it could go wrong without the necessary neck support to keep the head up. So they've to wear the neck rings permanently to avoid unwanted injuries or discomfort. Sometimes they wear some soft fabrics inside their rings to make it more comfortable wearing them.
A woman who feels beautiful with these rings.
10) Tapeworms
Illustration of a tape worm.
Some people went far than others when it came to beauty and took it very seriously. In the Victorian Era, some people wanted to stay thin to fit the ideal shape. If you gained weight easily and wanted to avoid it, you could swallow a pill with an egg in it. When the egg hatched a tapeworm came out of it and lived in your stomach to help you to eat the food you ate, so you could enjoy more food without gaining weight they believed. The worms could grow bigger than what they were in the beginning after being there for a while.Not only was it a risk having something strange in your body, getting it out of your body wasn't easy either. You could either poop it out if possible and if it wasn't possible, it had to go out the other way, something that often lead to choking. They could lure the tapeworm through the digestive track with food, so it's no wonder people were choked.