October 13, 2024 • 20 mins
Can fashion kill? Join us for a chilling exploration into history's most dangerous style trends, where the quest for beauty often came with a deadly price. From the haunting allure of arsenic-laden green dresses that led to tragic fates like that of Matilda Schreier, to the mercury madness that defined the felt hat industry, we unravel the perilous choices fashionistas made in the name of style. This episode promises a spine-tingling journey through time, uncovering tales of toxic dyes, suffocating collars, and even radioactive makeup, all while pondering the bizarre and hazardous lengths people went to for the sake of fashion.
Laugh with us as we reflect on how modern fashion has evolved, thankfully prioritizing safety over mere aesthetic appeal. While reminiscing about corseted waists and fanny packs, we offer a friendly reminder to use a dash of common sense before accepting any trend that comes your way. With a playful nod to the past, we humorously caution our listeners to remember that while trends may come and go, staying safe—and stylish—should always remain a priority. So grab your favorite (safe) accessory and tune in for a captivating blend of history, humor, and heartfelt advice.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2035680/support
Support the Show!!!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Uh hoi, hoi.
Hey, what's up, bro?
How's your day treating youthere at Boogie's Bodega,
located on the north side ofBillings Montana.
I forgot the street, FirstAvenue, right no?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
1802 First Avenue North.
Okay, there we go.
Yeah, lovely day.
I made a fat kid breakfastsandwich consisted of patched
chili cheese block melted onto abagel topped with crispy
capicola.
Damn, don't sell the bagelshere, but the cheese and the
(00:35):
Italian ham.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, for sure, got it right here, all right fair
enough, All right enoughshameless plugging.
That's right, my friend.
Boogie Shock Right.
Well, hey, it's my fault.
I'm the one who led right intoit, the thing that I was just.
Whoa, this is our Dressed toKill episode, owen.
If you didn't know, I alreadynamed the motherfucker.
All right, we're dangerous thistime around, guys.
(00:59):
So most of this I'm going tosource through Carly Southersers
, who writes for BuzzFeed and,I'm sure, some other things.
But throughout history, myfriends, as it is the spooky
season, does my voice soundspooky or am I just like
whatever in it here?
I don't know.
throughout history, people weshouldn't let you near school
(01:21):
buses okay, yeah well, I won'tbe making that voice ever again.
We shouldn't let you nearschool buses, okay, yeah well, I
won't be making that voice everagain.
That one is X'd off.
Everything from now on time,cole, if they ever call you up
to do a children's cartoon,don't do that shit.
Nope, all right.
So anyway, back to the subjectat hand being dressed to kill,
(01:42):
apparently, or more like this,it's more like outfits that
actually kill you.
Okay, throughout history and uh,people have gone to great
lengths to fit in with others,especially like regarding
fashion, which we all kind ofknow.
I mean, at one point in ourlives we've all worn something
that we felt silly wearing, Ifeel, in order to, like you know
, try to either impress somebodyor to fit in with a friend
(02:04):
group.
It's just how it goes.
The desperate need to be likethe rest of society outweighed
the risk of physical harm andeven death at times, and I don't
know if I can relate to thatwith any clothing that I've ever
worn.
Can you Like?
Have you ever worn anything?
I don't know, I mean.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah, I mean the one time I tried the pinwheel hat to
fit in the background.
That didn't go too well, butother than that Not much for
conversation.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Yeah, alright.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Very little.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
So back in the day there was a lot of crazy stuff
that people wore and one of themwas like these green dresses.
They were made with the Wilhelmdye.
I hope I'm saying that rightSounds right.
What do you think, owen?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah, german.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Wilhelm Right, wilhelm, perhaps over there, but
shout out.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Germany.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah, hope to get your ear.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Word yeah, I mean Frankfurter, whatever it is.
You know, let's eat some hotdogs and sauerkraut, guys, right
, what were those things?
Again, it sounded really good,doesn't matter.
Oh, currywurst, yeah, bratwurstwith curry ketchup yeah, that
shit does sound kind of goodactually.
So the the dye was like a newshaded dye basically, and it
(03:19):
became all the rage at the time.
It was used as late as 1871apparently is one of the
accounts that is cited in thearticle, but people began
experiencing like really badhealth complications due to the
poison which was actually in thedye, and I bet you can't guess
(03:40):
what that is, owen, you may know, I feel.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
A for arsenic yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
So it was made with arsenic.
Ah, that's right.
I knew it was literally somekind of poison, but I forgot
that that was.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yeah, it's cool man.
Word.
No, it's all good, but yeah, solike this dye had arsenic in it
guys, and so what it would dois it would cause skin lesions
and kidney and liver failure,which sounds like a pretty fun
way to live, I suppose.
Also ulcerations around thefingernails, and one of them was
(04:16):
a person who made some glovesout of these.
It was one of the sightedthings and arsenic salts were
detected, and that's kind of howthey figured out what was
causing the problems.
But a lot of people did die fromthis, however, like one of the
worst deaths involved a 19 yearold factory worker named matilda
schreier again cold, to get itright one of these days.
(04:37):
She was actually responsiblefor coating artificial flowers
in this deadly green dye, andshe also died in a manner that
really scared the fuck outeverybody, guys.
Basically, what ended uphappening is she had so much
exposure to this, this dangerousdye, that she vomited quote
green waters and that the whitesof her eyes turned green as
(05:00):
well.
And uh, the other quote is itwas an expression of great
anxiety is what her face lookedlike as she died?
That just sounds terrible.
So she basically became a greendye fountain as she Spooky.
That's pretty weird.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
That's like almost that's on a level of the Irish
people that died oh my god, nowdied green from trying to eat
grass because they were starving.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Hey, hey, we're having fun.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
I guess we knew this wasn't going to be a cheery
topic.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
I know, but I thought we'd poke some fun at something
.
Yeah, and apparently even afterthis happened, people still
wore these dresses because theywere such a fashion statement
and they basically had talkedthemselves into.
As long as they didn't lick thefabric, they would be fine.
Um, I don't know, I guess it isanother time, but like,
(05:56):
nonetheless, it is kind of afunny thing that these people
clearly seen, and they knew itwas killing people, you know
almost, and uh, there's a lot ofdoctors speaking out.
Uh, doctors quickly figured outthat the dye was harming, if
not outright killing, people.
British medical journalreporting well, may the
fascinating wearer of it becalled a killing creature.
(06:16):
She actually carries in herskirts poison enough to slay the
whole of the admirers she maymeet within a half dozen
ballrooms.
Hmm, damn, that's an intensestatement, guys.
I don't know if you want torewind that and play it back,
but however, you know, sadlystill the case in modern medical
situations people just kind ofblow it off.
(06:38):
I don't want to get all crazy,but vaccines work, guys, just
saying it's proven medicalscience and as far as of right
now, there's no getting aroundit, I would think.
But, yeah, so it's a very realthing that, like these people
literally knew that this greendye was killing and hurting them
(06:58):
and they still went about theirbusiness dressing in these
green dresses.
Owen, I don't know.
Kind of a sad thing, I don'tknow.
Kind of a sad thing, I don'tknow.
Did you want to touch on any ofthem?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
I did think the crinolines.
I don't know if I'm saying thatright, but the big puffy
Victorian England dresses.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, I think you got it too, bro, by the way.
Crinolines or something?
Crinolines yeah, those arepretty crazy.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
And one.
There's one where, because theywere, you know, it was like a
metal thing underneath there.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Right, it was like a birdcage under their dress that
propped it up, made it all poop.
There you go.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Okay, and the one factory worker, it got caught on
something and then she just gotmangled in the machine.
They couldn't stop it.
Well, it just yeah.
Oh my god, yeah, she didn't dieimmediately.
Yeah, and they look ridiculous.
I can't imagine seeing, right,some uh attractive lady, you
know, walking around justlooking like like she's grimace
(07:59):
or something.
I mean.
But it was Victorian England,we were showing table legs
because it was too sexual.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
That's the truth too.
We touched on that on anepisode at one point.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I believe.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
So yeah, right, these dresses, though I guess like
yeah, that'd be the easiest wayto explain it like a metal cage,
you know, that props up thedress, and I would assume that
it would give the appearance ofthem kind of just floating
across the ground, and it wouldbe similar to something that you
would see in a Disney movie ata ball.
That's like over exaggerated,but it may not be, because these
(08:34):
things do look pretty intense,don't they?
They?
Speaker 2 (08:37):
do, and I guess.
Uh, two of Oscar Wilde'ssisters died after walking too
close to an open flame with thetrinoine Trinoline lined
ballgowns two of them two at thesame time.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
I wonder dang, I don't know that would be less
bizarre than if it was aseparate incidents.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Like you know, susie, her dress confines.
Oh, what should I wear tomorrow?
Oh yeah, or jazz cotton flyer.
Oh, what should I wear tomorrow?
Oh yeah, that looks pretty good.
Oh my God, I don't know if itwas Susie Wilde.
Probably not, and I don't needto.
Yeah, correct.
Make light of the tragedy.
Yeah, tragedy, I just yeah.
If it was one and then anotherone, it was like you think you
would have figured out like yeah, maybe burning alive isn't
(09:25):
worth the fashion.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
I seem to remember there was a and I don't have
notes on this or anything, butthere was a story I read one
time and it was older, butbasically it had to do with
ballet and I can't remember ifit was the cloth they made
everything out of.
But they made this cloth and itwas super flammable and tons of
(09:48):
people had died from it and atone point this like whole stage
collapse with this certain kindof cloth they used for ballet
and it literally killed like 20people or something.
It was insane.
It was a very bad fire.
So apparently, like throughouthistory, we've made some bad
choices, you know, and what wemake our clothes from, or like
throughout history, we've madesome bad choices, you know, in
what we make our clothes from.
(10:09):
Or also, milk was a bad choice.
Oh my gosh, right, yeah, no, Imean.
And also you know we got tothink at the same time that you
know different eras, differentideas, people think differently.
You know what I'm saying.
Nothing that we know today.
Almost would they have thoughtthey don't.
Their whole idea of the worldis very different.
(10:31):
Um, belladonna, eye drops, Ithought was kind of eye-catching
.
My friend owen mcmichael, uh,so apparently dilated pupils
were like just the big thing.
At the time of the Renaissance,people wanted this look of like
dilated pupils and kind of likethey're tripping balls.
(10:53):
Right, they could have justdone that.
God, why don't they go eat somerye or LSD?
Oh yeah, not invented yet no,damn it.
Not that kind of Renaissance.
Yeah, they no, but yeah.
So basically it was like thedilated pupils and then their
very drippy eyes or somethingkind of.
They called it tuberculosischic.
(11:14):
What the fuck, Tuberculosischic?
Okay, guys, leave it to theVictorians.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
That does not.
Belladonna just means beautifulwoman Like drippy eyes and you
know Right, looking like she'sfrom a spaceship.
Doesn't scream.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yeah, I don't know.
No, it just seems insane to me.
But you know, whatever right,but what they would do to do
this is put actual poisondirectly onto their eyeballs.
What was believed is theVenetian ladies of the court
would squeeze a belladonna-likemixture into their eye,
basically until they got thelook they wanted.
(11:54):
Deadly Nightshade, akaBelladonna, is super toxic, so
they were actually Okay, so theywere squirting belladonna in
their eyes.
It's not just what they werecalling the whatnot.
And then the look wastuberculosis chic, and that is
insane.
I don't even understand.
Tuberculosis is a shittydisease.
That's what Doc Holliday diedfrom.
(12:15):
I know that from Tombstone guys.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Just saying I think we all know about the Mad Hatter
and why hatters would literallygo crazy.
Right, they were treating hatswith mercury until I guess it
was December 1st 1941, the USPublic Health Service declared
this hey, this is a bad idea.
(12:39):
You guys notice a pattern here,yeah, A bunch of loons, I know.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Well, sometimes when you read these things and then
you hear like their reasoning toexplain it away, you're like
what?
Why?
That doesn't even make anysense.
But you know, yet again, putyourself in the times and you're
all called up in this, like youknow, fashion trend or whatever
, and I don't know People justWell, they didn't know and there
(13:08):
were no regulations Right oh,well, live, and regulations
Right oh well Live and learn.
Right, yeah, but part of it, Iguess.
So what they would use it foris to turn the animal fur into
felt for the hats, and theycalled the process kerating,
apparently because the nitrateshad a really bright orange hue.
(13:30):
That's pretty interesting.
So it was actually the wholefucking hat.
You know, I always thought itwas the hat band my friend like
with the inner liner of it, butit must have been.
Just the whole hat obviouslyfelt right.
So we learned something today.
That's a, that's a thing.
Edwardian collars, what, whatthe fuck is that, owen?
(13:50):
I don't know, but we're goingto find out.
It's a patchable collar.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
so, yeah, so that's.
So you didn't have to changeshirts.
It's just like what that wastheir huge draw.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
They call them.
She calls them a game changerfor men in the 19th century.
Yeah, I mean, I guess Likewhatever, but these things are
large.
It's like, if I was a guess onthis guy's neck here, which he
looks like he has a pretty longneck, but these look like
they're like four inches long.
So it's like your wholefreaking neck.
Guys, you know, hide your necktattoos.
(14:27):
Gang members for sure, get youan Edwardian collar.
That's how you get a job, I'mtelling you.
Yeah, so anyway, how this isdeadly.
You're like, I don't know right, this doesn't seem like
something, a big collar on yourshirt.
Well, the thing is they'reextremely stiff and starched.
(14:48):
So, you know, it was probablykind of, you know, hurt.
Yeah, so it was hard to turnyour neck or lean one way or the
other, that that kind of stuff.
And, uh, apparently there was agentleman who went by the name
of uh john cruzzi, uh, who wasfound dead on a park bench in
1888.
Um, he had been out all nightpartying, kind of, and shit.
They determined I think he hadsome beer bottles around him,
something like that, maybe drink.
And we know his death wascaused by asphyxiation, is what
(15:13):
the coroner determined.
And so at the end of it, eventhough there was big marks on
his neck, is very obvious to.
What happened was is thisgentleman fell asleep on a park
bench drunk, leaned forward andliterally fucking suffocated
himself with these collars, thiscollar.
So this fool like, yeah, hetotally stopped the windpipe and
checked the flow of bloodthrough the already contracted
(15:35):
veins causing the death it says.
That's pretty insane.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Those Edwardian collars will kill you.
Yeah, that's what Mom alwayssaid.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Oh, wow, hey, I got something for our German folks.
No, she didn't, she didn't.
I got all excited aboutsomething, are you sure?
I don't know.
Recall, that's fuckinghilarious.
So I got all excited.
Sorry, that was brilliant.
So apparently, these things,these detachable collars, were
called father killer orVatermörder in German because of
(16:08):
what we just talked about,because they would cut off the
blood supply to the carotidartery and people would just
faint and shit and do thingslike that.
That's insane.
I would not be wearing those atall.
You know, there's a lot ofcrazy shit out in the world,
people, and I guess we justtouched on some of these.
There's nine of them, I guess,but none of them are.
(16:32):
There was radioactive makeup.
That was a thing that peopleused to wear, which seems insane
now, but you know, back thenthey didn't understand that at
all.
Corsets I could see how thosewould be dangerous.
This is another one on the listand I'm not trying to breeze
through this, I just like to getinto more podcast land.
Yeah, I tell stories, flow ofthings sometimes, especially
(16:54):
when we're doing these ones.
Huh, and it's sort of nice toget rolling.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yeah, for sure, and some of them, yeah, just pretty
well known, where I didn't knowabout the dress I didn't know
about, I didn't know about, yeah, a couple on me that we didn't
even mention but weren't asinteresting.
No, yeah, but the corsets, it'slike duh, that just seems like
torture, like poor women.
(17:18):
You know Right.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Just squeeze like could you Like have a sandwich,
you know, like it's all right,yeah, and then you wonder why
these people, like these women,would faint for no fucking
reason, like all the time right.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Well, there was a reason.
Yeah, they had a car that likesqueezing life out of them.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, exactly, it's like I have a python around your
stomach like all the time.
Yeah, it is, it's bad.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I mean I'm sure there's some really.
Yeah, it looks like she doesn'teat.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
How doesn't eat?
How wonderful, like what?
I don't get the.
Yeah, no, I'm not into thateither.
I mean, like I don't know, I amnot into, not into that.
Look, either, my friend, thecorset can go the way of 1828 or
whatever, but it's still aroundand it is what it is.
Guys, just don't let yourcorset kill you, because I do
know that's something people dowear.
Ladies and gentlemen out there,nonetheless, on, I tell stories
.
We just want you guys to besafe at the end of the day, you
(18:15):
know, and just live your livesand, you know, use common sense.
I hope we don't run into someshit like that.
I can't think of anything thatwould be something directly
clothing related.
I mean, obviously there's timeswhen, like you know, toddler
furnitures are recalled all thefucking time.
There's a lot of stuff likethat that we see, but I don't
(18:35):
think we've seen anything quitelike an arsenic dress in our era
.
So that's a good thing, Isuppose, right, owen?
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Fanny packs were close.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Yeah, yeah, they were pretty close.
Hey, they're still around too.
Guys, Be careful with yourfanny packs.
Don't let them get wrappedaround your fanny too much, I
guess, or your neck or whateverthe fuck, I don't know.
Whatever you got going on inlife, but at the end of the day,
we appreciate you If you wantto check us out at
pitlocksupplycom.
We do have some shirts up, andwho knows what you'll find.
(19:08):
It's always a pleasantexperience, I feel.
So on that note, I hopeeverybody has a good day or
evening.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Much love everybody.
Uh hoi, hoi.
Hey, what's up, bro?
How's your day treating youthere at Boogie's Bodega,
located on the north side ofBillings Montana.
I forgot the street, FirstAvenue, right no?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
1802 First Avenue North.
Okay, there we go.
Yeah, lovely day.
I made a fat kid breakfastsandwich consisted of patched
chili cheese block melted onto abagel topped with crispy
capicola.
Damn, don't sell the bagelshere, but the cheese and the
(00:35):
Italian ham.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, for sure, got it right here, all right fair
enough, All right enoughshameless plugging.
That's right, my friend.
Boogie Shock Right.
Well, hey, it's my fault.
I'm the one who led right intoit, the thing that I was just.
Whoa, this is our Dressed toKill episode, owen.
If you didn't know, I alreadynamed the motherfucker.
All right, we're dangerous thistime around, guys.
(00:59):
So most of this I'm going tosource through Carly Southersers
, who writes for BuzzFeed and,I'm sure, some other things.
But throughout history, myfriends, as it is the spooky
season, does my voice soundspooky or am I just like
whatever in it here?
I don't know.
throughout history, people weshouldn't let you near school
(01:21):
buses okay, yeah well, I won'tbe making that voice ever again.
We shouldn't let you nearschool buses, okay, yeah well, I
won't be making that voice everagain.
That one is X'd off.
Everything from now on time,cole, if they ever call you up
to do a children's cartoon,don't do that shit.
Nope, all right.
So anyway, back to the subjectat hand being dressed to kill,
(01:42):
apparently, or more like this,it's more like outfits that
actually kill you.
Okay, throughout history and uh,people have gone to great
lengths to fit in with others,especially like regarding
fashion, which we all kind ofknow.
I mean, at one point in ourlives we've all worn something
that we felt silly wearing, Ifeel, in order to, like you know
, try to either impress somebodyor to fit in with a friend
(02:04):
group.
It's just how it goes.
The desperate need to be likethe rest of society outweighed
the risk of physical harm andeven death at times, and I don't
know if I can relate to thatwith any clothing that I've ever
worn.
Can you Like?
Have you ever worn anything?
I don't know, I mean.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah, I mean the one time I tried the pinwheel hat to
fit in the background.
That didn't go too well, butother than that Not much for
conversation.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Yeah, alright.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Very little.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
So back in the day there was a lot of crazy stuff
that people wore and one of themwas like these green dresses.
They were made with the Wilhelmdye.
I hope I'm saying that rightSounds right.
What do you think, owen?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah, german.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Wilhelm Right, wilhelm, perhaps over there, but
shout out.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Germany.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah, hope to get your ear.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Word yeah, I mean Frankfurter, whatever it is.
You know, let's eat some hotdogs and sauerkraut, guys, right
, what were those things?
Again, it sounded really good,doesn't matter.
Oh, currywurst, yeah, bratwurstwith curry ketchup yeah, that
shit does sound kind of goodactually.
So the the dye was like a newshaded dye basically, and it
(03:19):
became all the rage at the time.
It was used as late as 1871apparently is one of the
accounts that is cited in thearticle, but people began
experiencing like really badhealth complications due to the
poison which was actually in thedye, and I bet you can't guess
(03:40):
what that is, owen, you may know, I feel.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
A for arsenic yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
So it was made with arsenic.
Ah, that's right.
I knew it was literally somekind of poison, but I forgot
that that was.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yeah, it's cool man.
Word.
No, it's all good, but yeah, solike this dye had arsenic in it
guys, and so what it would dois it would cause skin lesions
and kidney and liver failure,which sounds like a pretty fun
way to live, I suppose.
Also ulcerations around thefingernails, and one of them was
(04:16):
a person who made some glovesout of these.
It was one of the sightedthings and arsenic salts were
detected, and that's kind of howthey figured out what was
causing the problems.
But a lot of people did die fromthis, however, like one of the
worst deaths involved a 19 yearold factory worker named matilda
schreier again cold, to get itright one of these days.
(04:37):
She was actually responsiblefor coating artificial flowers
in this deadly green dye, andshe also died in a manner that
really scared the fuck outeverybody, guys.
Basically, what ended uphappening is she had so much
exposure to this, this dangerousdye, that she vomited quote
green waters and that the whitesof her eyes turned green as
(05:00):
well.
And uh, the other quote is itwas an expression of great
anxiety is what her face lookedlike as she died?
That just sounds terrible.
So she basically became a greendye fountain as she Spooky.
That's pretty weird.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
That's like almost that's on a level of the Irish
people that died oh my god, nowdied green from trying to eat
grass because they were starving.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Hey, hey, we're having fun.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
I guess we knew this wasn't going to be a cheery
topic.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
I know, but I thought we'd poke some fun at something
.
Yeah, and apparently even afterthis happened, people still
wore these dresses because theywere such a fashion statement
and they basically had talkedthemselves into.
As long as they didn't lick thefabric, they would be fine.
Um, I don't know, I guess it isanother time, but like,
(05:56):
nonetheless, it is kind of afunny thing that these people
clearly seen, and they knew itwas killing people, you know
almost, and uh, there's a lot ofdoctors speaking out.
Uh, doctors quickly figured outthat the dye was harming, if
not outright killing, people.
British medical journalreporting well, may the
fascinating wearer of it becalled a killing creature.
(06:16):
She actually carries in herskirts poison enough to slay the
whole of the admirers she maymeet within a half dozen
ballrooms.
Hmm, damn, that's an intensestatement, guys.
I don't know if you want torewind that and play it back,
but however, you know, sadlystill the case in modern medical
situations people just kind ofblow it off.
(06:38):
I don't want to get all crazy,but vaccines work, guys, just
saying it's proven medicalscience and as far as of right
now, there's no getting aroundit, I would think.
But, yeah, so it's a very realthing that, like these people
literally knew that this greendye was killing and hurting them
(06:58):
and they still went about theirbusiness dressing in these
green dresses.
Owen, I don't know.
Kind of a sad thing, I don'tknow.
Kind of a sad thing, I don'tknow.
Did you want to touch on any ofthem?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
I did think the crinolines.
I don't know if I'm saying thatright, but the big puffy
Victorian England dresses.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, I think you got it too, bro, by the way.
Crinolines or something?
Crinolines yeah, those arepretty crazy.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
And one.
There's one where, because theywere, you know, it was like a
metal thing underneath there.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Right, it was like a birdcage under their dress that
propped it up, made it all poop.
There you go.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Okay, and the one factory worker, it got caught on
something and then she just gotmangled in the machine.
They couldn't stop it.
Well, it just yeah.
Oh my god, yeah, she didn't dieimmediately.
Yeah, and they look ridiculous.
I can't imagine seeing, right,some uh attractive lady, you
know, walking around justlooking like like she's grimace
(07:59):
or something.
I mean.
But it was Victorian England,we were showing table legs
because it was too sexual.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
That's the truth too.
We touched on that on anepisode at one point.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I believe.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
So yeah, right, these dresses, though I guess like
yeah, that'd be the easiest wayto explain it like a metal cage,
you know, that props up thedress, and I would assume that
it would give the appearance ofthem kind of just floating
across the ground, and it wouldbe similar to something that you
would see in a Disney movie ata ball.
That's like over exaggerated,but it may not be, because these
(08:34):
things do look pretty intense,don't they?
They?
Speaker 2 (08:37):
do, and I guess.
Uh, two of Oscar Wilde'ssisters died after walking too
close to an open flame with thetrinoine Trinoline lined
ballgowns two of them two at thesame time.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
I wonder dang, I don't know that would be less
bizarre than if it was aseparate incidents.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Like you know, susie, her dress confines.
Oh, what should I wear tomorrow?
Oh yeah, or jazz cotton flyer.
Oh, what should I wear tomorrow?
Oh yeah, that looks pretty good.
Oh my God, I don't know if itwas Susie Wilde.
Probably not, and I don't needto.
Yeah, correct.
Make light of the tragedy.
Yeah, tragedy, I just yeah.
If it was one and then anotherone, it was like you think you
would have figured out like yeah, maybe burning alive isn't
(09:25):
worth the fashion.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
I seem to remember there was a and I don't have
notes on this or anything, butthere was a story I read one
time and it was older, butbasically it had to do with
ballet and I can't remember ifit was the cloth they made
everything out of.
But they made this cloth and itwas super flammable and tons of
(09:48):
people had died from it and atone point this like whole stage
collapse with this certain kindof cloth they used for ballet
and it literally killed like 20people or something.
It was insane.
It was a very bad fire.
So apparently, like throughouthistory, we've made some bad
choices, you know, and what wemake our clothes from, or like
throughout history, we've madesome bad choices, you know, in
what we make our clothes from.
(10:09):
Or also, milk was a bad choice.
Oh my gosh, right, yeah, no, Imean.
And also you know we got tothink at the same time that you
know different eras, differentideas, people think differently.
You know what I'm saying.
Nothing that we know today.
Almost would they have thoughtthey don't.
Their whole idea of the worldis very different.
(10:31):
Um, belladonna, eye drops, Ithought was kind of eye-catching
.
My friend owen mcmichael, uh,so apparently dilated pupils
were like just the big thing.
At the time of the Renaissance,people wanted this look of like
dilated pupils and kind of likethey're tripping balls.
(10:53):
Right, they could have justdone that.
God, why don't they go eat somerye or LSD?
Oh yeah, not invented yet no,damn it.
Not that kind of Renaissance.
Yeah, they no, but yeah.
So basically it was like thedilated pupils and then their
very drippy eyes or somethingkind of.
They called it tuberculosischic.
(11:14):
What the fuck, Tuberculosischic?
Okay, guys, leave it to theVictorians.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
That does not.
Belladonna just means beautifulwoman Like drippy eyes and you
know Right, looking like she'sfrom a spaceship.
Doesn't scream.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yeah, I don't know.
No, it just seems insane to me.
But you know, whatever right,but what they would do to do
this is put actual poisondirectly onto their eyeballs.
What was believed is theVenetian ladies of the court
would squeeze a belladonna-likemixture into their eye,
basically until they got thelook they wanted.
(11:54):
Deadly Nightshade, akaBelladonna, is super toxic, so
they were actually Okay, so theywere squirting belladonna in
their eyes.
It's not just what they werecalling the whatnot.
And then the look wastuberculosis chic, and that is
insane.
I don't even understand.
Tuberculosis is a shittydisease.
That's what Doc Holliday diedfrom.
(12:15):
I know that from Tombstone guys.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Just saying I think we all know about the Mad Hatter
and why hatters would literallygo crazy.
Right, they were treating hatswith mercury until I guess it
was December 1st 1941, the USPublic Health Service declared
this hey, this is a bad idea.
(12:39):
You guys notice a pattern here,yeah, A bunch of loons, I know.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Well, sometimes when you read these things and then
you hear like their reasoning toexplain it away, you're like
what?
Why?
That doesn't even make anysense.
But you know, yet again, putyourself in the times and you're
all called up in this, like youknow, fashion trend or whatever
, and I don't know People justWell, they didn't know and there
(13:08):
were no regulations Right oh,well, live, and regulations
Right oh well Live and learn.
Right, yeah, but part of it, Iguess.
So what they would use it foris to turn the animal fur into
felt for the hats, and theycalled the process kerating,
apparently because the nitrateshad a really bright orange hue.
(13:30):
That's pretty interesting.
So it was actually the wholefucking hat.
You know, I always thought itwas the hat band my friend like
with the inner liner of it, butit must have been.
Just the whole hat obviouslyfelt right.
So we learned something today.
That's a, that's a thing.
Edwardian collars, what, whatthe fuck is that, owen?
(13:50):
I don't know, but we're goingto find out.
It's a patchable collar.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
so, yeah, so that's.
So you didn't have to changeshirts.
It's just like what that wastheir huge draw.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
They call them.
She calls them a game changerfor men in the 19th century.
Yeah, I mean, I guess Likewhatever, but these things are
large.
It's like, if I was a guess onthis guy's neck here, which he
looks like he has a pretty longneck, but these look like
they're like four inches long.
So it's like your wholefreaking neck.
Guys, you know, hide your necktattoos.
(14:27):
Gang members for sure, get youan Edwardian collar.
That's how you get a job, I'mtelling you.
Yeah, so anyway, how this isdeadly.
You're like, I don't know right, this doesn't seem like
something, a big collar on yourshirt.
Well, the thing is they'reextremely stiff and starched.
(14:48):
So, you know, it was probablykind of, you know, hurt.
Yeah, so it was hard to turnyour neck or lean one way or the
other, that that kind of stuff.
And, uh, apparently there was agentleman who went by the name
of uh john cruzzi, uh, who wasfound dead on a park bench in
1888.
Um, he had been out all nightpartying, kind of, and shit.
They determined I think he hadsome beer bottles around him,
something like that, maybe drink.
And we know his death wascaused by asphyxiation, is what
(15:13):
the coroner determined.
And so at the end of it, eventhough there was big marks on
his neck, is very obvious to.
What happened was is thisgentleman fell asleep on a park
bench drunk, leaned forward andliterally fucking suffocated
himself with these collars, thiscollar.
So this fool like, yeah, hetotally stopped the windpipe and
checked the flow of bloodthrough the already contracted
(15:35):
veins causing the death it says.
That's pretty insane.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Those Edwardian collars will kill you.
Yeah, that's what Mom alwayssaid.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Oh, wow, hey, I got something for our German folks.
No, she didn't, she didn't.
I got all excited aboutsomething, are you sure?
I don't know.
Recall, that's fuckinghilarious.
So I got all excited.
Sorry, that was brilliant.
So apparently, these things,these detachable collars, were
called father killer orVatermörder in German because of
(16:08):
what we just talked about,because they would cut off the
blood supply to the carotidartery and people would just
faint and shit and do thingslike that.
That's insane.
I would not be wearing those atall.
You know, there's a lot ofcrazy shit out in the world,
people, and I guess we justtouched on some of these.
There's nine of them, I guess,but none of them are.
(16:32):
There was radioactive makeup.
That was a thing that peopleused to wear, which seems insane
now, but you know, back thenthey didn't understand that at
all.
Corsets I could see how thosewould be dangerous.
This is another one on the listand I'm not trying to breeze
through this, I just like to getinto more podcast land.
Yeah, I tell stories, flow ofthings sometimes, especially
(16:54):
when we're doing these ones.
Huh, and it's sort of nice toget rolling.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yeah, for sure, and some of them, yeah, just pretty
well known, where I didn't knowabout the dress I didn't know
about, I didn't know about, yeah, a couple on me that we didn't
even mention but weren't asinteresting.
No, yeah, but the corsets, it'slike duh, that just seems like
torture, like poor women.
(17:18):
You know Right.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Just squeeze like could you Like have a sandwich,
you know, like it's all right,yeah, and then you wonder why
these people, like these women,would faint for no fucking
reason, like all the time right.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Well, there was a reason.
Yeah, they had a car that likesqueezing life out of them.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, exactly, it's like I have a python around your
stomach like all the time.
Yeah, it is, it's bad.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I mean I'm sure there's some really.
Yeah, it looks like she doesn'teat.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
How doesn't eat?
How wonderful, like what?
I don't get the.
Yeah, no, I'm not into thateither.
I mean, like I don't know, I amnot into, not into that.
Look, either, my friend, thecorset can go the way of 1828 or
whatever, but it's still aroundand it is what it is.
Guys, just don't let yourcorset kill you, because I do
know that's something people dowear.
Ladies and gentlemen out there,nonetheless, on, I tell stories
.
We just want you guys to besafe at the end of the day, you
(18:15):
know, and just live your livesand, you know, use common sense.
I hope we don't run into someshit like that.
I can't think of anything thatwould be something directly
clothing related.
I mean, obviously there's timeswhen, like you know, toddler
furnitures are recalled all thefucking time.
There's a lot of stuff likethat that we see, but I don't
(18:35):
think we've seen anything quitelike an arsenic dress in our era
.
So that's a good thing, Isuppose, right, owen?
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Fanny packs were close.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Yeah, yeah, they were pretty close.
Hey, they're still around too.
Guys, Be careful with yourfanny packs.
Don't let them get wrappedaround your fanny too much, I
guess, or your neck or whateverthe fuck, I don't know.
Whatever you got going on inlife, but at the end of the day,
we appreciate you If you wantto check us out at
pitlocksupplycom.
We do have some shirts up, andwho knows what you'll find.
(19:08):
It's always a pleasantexperience, I feel.
So on that note, I hopeeverybody has a good day or
evening.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Much love everybody.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.