Bata Shoe Museum's Fashion Victims Exhibition Review
The phrase "Fashion Victim" is not a modern day term as I quickly learned during my visit last week to the Bata Shoe Museum's newest exhibit Fashion Victims: The Pleasures and Perils of Dress in the 19th Century. From toxic dyes to mercury laced hats, the label "Fashion Victims" was indeed taken more literally during the 19th Century..JPG "Arsenic Green Dyed Dress from Fashion Victims: The Pleasures and Perils of Dress in the 19th Century Exhibit at Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto")
An arsenic green dyed dress is the centerpiece of this show, but my attention was taken by mauve dyed clothing, that was developed in 1856 using toxic coal sludge. Purple was the "it" colour (kind of like 2014:), but people developed skin rashes from this beautiful toxic hue, named Mauve Measles, after wearing this beautiful colour head to toe! Oh the horror!
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