Fatal Beauty Trends From the Victorian Era

[Music] anyone who's ever watched a Met Gala red carpet knows that people are occasionally willing to suffer for fashion from corsets to Spanx sometimes making a true artistic statement requires a little discomfort but in the 19th century people took the notion of dying for fashion quite literally putting their lives on the line in order to look their best today we're looking back at some fatal beauty trends from the Victorian era but before we hit the runway be sure to subscribe to the weird History Channel and leave a comment letting us know what other extreme fashion trends you would like to hear about okay time to do a little turn on the catwalk yeah on the catwalk the Victorian ERA refers to the reign of England's Queen Victoria from June of 1837 through January of 1901 people who were alive in the UK at this time actually referred to it as the Victorian era and had a sense that they were entering a new and distinct phase days in history sort of like when we all heard color me bad for the first time it was a period of significant social change and even upheaval as the primary significance and total power of the aristocracy was starting to fade and the number of middle class workers and professionals increased it led to Major shifts in culture and perspective more and more couples started marrying for love rather than as a strategic business venture to unite wealthy prominent families some people have no respect for tradition the individual family home became the new center of everyday life there was also a major uptick in religious fervor and public morality gambling horse racing and prostitution were all in Decline even obscene theatrical Productions fell out of favor it wouldn't be safe to release a movie like porkys until 1981 but amidst all this there were a number of alarming new beauty and fashion trends including a bizarre fascination with tuberculosis for those of you who haven't seen literally any movie about the wild west tuberculosis is a bacterial infection that that starts in the lungs and from there can spread quickly throughout the human body While most people who get infected don't ever show any symptoms about 10% of people with tuberculosis get sick and the full-blown illness is fatal in around 50% of cases without proper Medical Care by the middle of the 19th century tuberculosis had reached epidemic levels in both Western Europe and the United States and this was prior to the widespread use of vaccines so the prescription was usually along the lines of move someplace drier tuberculosis symptoms include a chronic cough which helps spread the disease through the air along with fevers night sweats and dramatic weight loss during the Victorian period it was the weight loss that was most associated with the illness leading people at the time to refer to the disease as consumption people infected with TV slimmed down their skin grew paler and they developed fine silky hair and Rosy Cheeks if you've ever tried out one of those tapeworm fad diets you can see where this is going though it's c certainly didn't feel good to have a potentially deadly disease at the time it was widely viewed that the Confluence of these symptoms Together made sufferers more physically attractive there were even some peculiar theories that being physically attractive to begin with made you more prone to developing tuberculosis of infected like it was Nature's Way of punishing people for being too hot this of course over time had an influence on beauty and fashion trends women who weren't suffering from tuberculosis started to mimic the appearance of people with the disease leading to a look that's been referred to as consumptive Chic sort of the precursor to heroin Chic only much less fun nobody has ever recorded a classic album while flush with consumption the trend reached its height in the mid 19th century and included fashionable pointed corsets and large skirts that showcased and emphasized a woman's low thin waist many women also wore makeup to lighten their skin Ren their lips and make their cheeks appear Pinker in the style of a tuberculosis sufferer by the turn of the 20th century the word about germ Theory had spread disease in general was better understood and new discoveries about its spread had their own impact on fashion trends some women stopped wearing long skirts that dragged across the ground as scientists and doctors theorized that those were sweeping up germs off the streets and bringing them into the home some men also shaved their elaborate full facial hair after it was suggested that it could provide a breeding ground for germs and illnesses even though corsets had already started to fall out of favor by the mid to late 1800s they were still a popular garment during this period essentially a vest that crushes your midsection in the name of hotness the slimming garment presents a number of genuine health risks for starters forets were found to exacerbate the symptoms of tuberculosis so presumably if you were sporting both you'd be at the height of sex appeal and also maybe dead in addition to making TB worse the uncomfortable and finding undergarments were responsible for a host of health risks wearing a tight corset for hours on end could permanently move around your organs or to form sections of your body corsets also frequently caused wearers to become short of breath or even suffocate when their lungs couldn't draw in enough oxygen some excessively tight corsets were also blamed for potentially affecting a woman's ability to Bear children for women and feminists who were becoming increasingly active in the Public Square during this time corsets represent the Arcane expression of a bygone on era meanwhile for moral reformers coret promote a promiscuous view of women and an unhealthy focus on their bodies this in some ways led to a perfect storm of Oppression to cor setting from Progressive reformers moral Crusaders and public health experts nonetheless even though seemingly everyone hated them the wearing of corsets didn't entirely die out in England and the us until World War I when demand for metal to build battleships promoted the last holdouts to stop buying them and switch to other Slim in strategies like tuberculosis though everyone got smarter about actual consumption the desire to resemble a consumptive victim in some ways never fully died out the popularity of extremely pale skin drove some women to actually bathe their bodies in Arsenic a metaloid that's highly toxic to humans if they're exposed to significant quantities arsenic poisoning can cause vomiting abdominal pain heart disease skin discoloration numbness cancer and uh death but this this was poorly understood in the Victorian era scientists at the time thought that the substance was only dangerous for humans if it was actually digested and didn't realize just being around it or touching it was also a problem arsenic is the dude at the party nobody should even be in the same room with because it was widely considered safe arsenic had a number of everyday applications in the 19th century a material called copper arenite produced a particularly pleasing Vivid shade of green and became popular among artists at the time it was was even used as a food coloring arsenic was also a common ingredient in many wallpapers some wealthy women would even go to special spas that featured arsenic spring baths which were advertised as turning the skin a pleasingly bleached pale shade this is technically true so you can't get them for false advertising some shampoos foundations and face cleansers were also laced with arsenic to give a woman's skin that same white Sheen and arsenic Wafers were sometimes ingested to cure complexion issues like blemishes or pimples and In fairness if you do drink enough arsenic your acne will cease to be a problem arsenic wasn't the only potentially deadly material to be found in the makeup and cosmetics products of the time Rich lady's passion for Alabaster white skin also drove them to various lotions powders and face paints that contained lead and even radioactive radium one skin lightener known as Bloom of Youth apparently contained so many lead flakes it led some users to develop disorders like wrist drop and radial nerve Psy nerve Psy is one of those side effects that they try to speed through at the end of the commercial but we heard it we all heard it some women apparently used so many lead laced Cosmetics they developed paralysis particularly in their hands red lips were also highly prized but because this was before the invention of modern lipsticks people used dyes and paints unfortunately Victorian lip paints also contained poorly understood chemical subst es come on you can't be too surprised about this we just got done telling you about arsenic baths one lip paint included an ingredient known as Carmine formed from the crushed bodies of beetles and other insects and while that's certainly gross and probably not something you'd want to smear on your mouth it's not actually toxic the deadly part comes in when the insect bodies are boiled in ammonia to make them more malleable and easier to crush unfortunately it also makes them soaked in ammonia side effects of ammonia exposure can include INE coughing wheezing shortness of breath burning of the eyes nose and throat and over enough time lung damage blindness and even death plus you're putting all those bugs on your face let's not lose sight of that Victorian women also didn't have access to Modern eyeliners and eyeshadow and their versions again included dangerous and potentially toxic materials many eye paints from the 19th century included Mercury lead or antimon oxide which can cause cancer if you use them enough along with other health issues like kidney damage and bold smoky eyes you've probably heard of nightshade it's one of those plants that's so poisonous to humans it's a common ingredient in fictional magic potions and witches bruise but one of the side effects is that it makes your pupils dilate and become much larger which people in the Victorian era thought was super hot evidently appearing as though you were tripping harder than Sergeant Pepper was the Pinnacle of beauty so sometimes before a date or a big party they put Nightshade drops in their eyes to make them extra wide teens who finished all their homework on time were presumably sent off to the homecoming dance with a little eye poison As a treat unless the dancing was too risque a in which case you'd have to stay home and soak in the Arsenic bath instead for your own protection so what do you think which of these dangerous beauty trends surprised you the most let us know in the comments below and while you're at it check out some of these other videos from our weird history

Channel: Weird History

Views: 243,377

Keywords: Victorian Era Beauty Standards, Deadly Victorian Beauty treatments, BixaVictorian Era beauty trends, Victorian Era Cosmetics, Victorian Era Beauty and fashionssstyle, Weird History, Weird History Victorian Era, Victorian Era Women's trends, Consumption chic, tuberculous infection, Victorian era metal corsets, Victorian ararsenic baths, Victorian radium makeup, unhealthy victorian beauty trends, strange Victorian Beauty products, Victorian era women, Joe Scott, Absolute History

Id: TXXhwQO_S4U

Length: 10min 26sec (626 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 23 2023