Watch: Deadly Dressing: How Fashion was Fatal to the Victorians

During the nineteenth century, gentlemen sported stylish top hats made from silk or felted fur while their female counterparts promenaded in vibrant green dresses with their elaborate hairstyles fastened by decorative combs. Little did they know that their fashions were killing them.

Deadly substances such as mercury, arsenic and cellulose were used in the production of many of the articles that Victorians wore.

It was not just the wealthy who were the victims of fashion. At an even greater risk of illness, injury and death were the workers who produced these items.

Learn about nineteenth-century fashion victims in this talk by Dr Jill Haley, Curator Human History. Presented to the Friends of Canterbury Museum on 5 November 2019.