Fashion Follies
Fashion hazards continue through the ages. Today, factory workers suffer silicosis from ‘sandblasting,’ or deliberately distressing, denim sold in stores around the world. Flight attendants are experiencing skin and lung issues from the chemicals used in their uniforms. While some fashion hazards are predictable, like hobble skirts dangerously restricting movement, some dangers are unpredictable in its time, like the long-term effects of radium in an era when people drank it to restore vitality. Or, like lead-based makeup, the dangers were known, but ignored in the pursuit of high style. People will try new, daring, and outrageous things in the name of style. Manufacturers will use toxic chemicals and processes (either to the production workers or the end user) if it is cost effective and there is no specific regulation against it at the time. Fashion is a continuum of art history, and art is about extremes and experimentation.
Where Did We Find this Stuff? Here Are Our Sources:
Egyptian eyeliner may have warded off diseases. (n.a.) Science, 8 January 2010.
Kohl. Gina DeLuca, Fashion History Timeline, 5 June 2019.
Recipes for an Ancient Roman glow up. Jess Romeo, JSTOR Daily, 31 May 2021.
The reason people wore powdered wigs. Lucas Reilly, Mental Floss, 29 June 2012.