demingking:Two skeletons dressed as lady and gentleman in “the Arsenic Waltz,” Etching
demingking: Two skeletons dressed as lady and gentleman in “the Arsenic Waltz,” Etching (1862) (courtesy Wellcome Library, London) “Staying stylish in the Victorian period could be a dance of death. While industrialization and mass production made more beautiful fashions widely available, the green dresses were dyed with arsenic-based pigments, the mercury necessary to make shiny beaver top hats drove the hatters insane, and all that tulle and cinched corsets contorting women into airy nymphs would not infrequently cause them to tumble into gas lamps and go up in flames.” http://hyperallergic.com/133571/fatal-victorian-fashion-and-the-allure-of-the-poison-garment/ An amazing article/exhibition! Definitely a must read if you are interested in fashion history, especially the darker side of it. Putting truth to the saying ‘beauty is pain’. -- source link