Six of history’s most dangerous fashion trends

Modern shapewear and stilettos have nothing on the deathtraps of centuries past, according to The Conversation UK. Victorian dresses dyed with arsenic-laden Scheele's green caused ulcers and organ failure in wearers, while the factory workers who sewed them suffered convulsions and worse. Corsets could fracture ribs, radium-infused hair tonics were marketed as a growth cure, and hooped crinoline skirts were so flammable that Victorian-era newspapers reported roughly three deaths a week from them catching fire. As the outlet tells it, today's fashion hazards are comparatively tame.

Listen to this story

Hear this and more stories in a personalized audio briefing.

Open The Chonkerton