19th Century Fashion Today . . . 'To Die For'

Fashion is meant to be enhancing and flattering to the silhouette of men and women.

Being fashionable means being stylish, up-to-the-minute trendy and/or chic.

And even though being stylish means all of these and more, it is also meant to be safe and to die for!
To die for! But literally?

Yes if you’ve ever heard of the muslin disease. This was a terrible and deadly illness that was a result of being fashionable in the late 18^th to early 19^th century.  At the time, it was the rave for ladies to “dampen themselves with water before wearing their muslin gowns”.  

Because the skin was wet, the muslin gowns clung to their bodies revealing all their curves, bosom, backside, and all. Talk of being utterly revealing!

This was a way to show off their figures and reveal the absence of underwear! And what did this style of wearing wet clothes result in? Disease!

Asides being unhygienic, there were severe cases of illnesses such as pneumonia, bronchitis, influenza, and even death! Some hygienists at the time claim that this supposedly fashionable way of dressing was solely responsible for the viral outbreak of influenza in France in the early 19^th century. This outbreak is what is known as the ‘muslin gowns disease.’