Fashion Hazards

Virginia Woolf once said, “It's clothes that wear us, and not we them.” As you will see, this can be downright dangerous.

• Throughout history, cosmetics made from mercury and lead disfigured faces and sometimes poisoned people to death.
• Hair dying, fashionable in ancient times, often resulted in total hair loss.
• When small feet were considered aristocratic and feminine, women squeezed their feet into the smallest possible shoes, causing the bones of their feet to become twisted and deformed.
• Tightly laced corsets made breathing and movement difficult.
• Hoop skirts made getting through a door difficult, getting into a carriage almost impossible, and, if the wearer sat down too fast, the hoop could fly up and break her nose.
• Layers of crinolines or hoops made falling down easy but getting up almost impossible.
• Wearing high heels has immobilized women and resulted in bunions, corns, twisted ankles, spinal deformities, and shortened calf muscles.
• The bustle of the 1900s, a rolled fabric attached to a woman's behind, made sitting down difficult.
• The hobble skirt of 1915 was so narrow below the knees that it made it difficult for women to walk.

Fact Monster/Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

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