Weird Facts I Learned from Books: Arsenic Green Clothing Dye
Why shouldn’t I own a fantastic green gown from the 1800s?
I have been reading a lot of commercial romance lately. In these lush and opulent worlds, the women wear jewel coloured gowns to balls and soirees of every sort. In Julia Quinn’s Brighter than the Sun Eleanor gets married in an emerald green gown. Lisa Kleypas’ Where Dreams Begin Lady Holly is gifted a spectacular gem of a gown by the man who wants to be her lover. Part of my love for these fictional dresses in inspired by an emerald green evening gown by haute couturier Charles James which I saw in The Metropolitan Museum of Art several years ago. However, fashion was a dangerous thing, especially anything made in green.
In the book Fashion Victims: The Dangers of Dress Past and Present by Allison Matthews David explores all the dangerous things we wore in the past. From lice infested garments causing typhus to death by flaming tutu. My first brush with deadly fashion, like most people, was the Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. At the time, my dad had to explain where the name originated. Mercury, often used by hatters and milliners, caused chronic mercury poisoning and it can cause a variety of psychological symptoms. Even wearing or handling the hats present health hazards now, at least a century after they were made, according to David.
However, it is the arsenical green dyes which interested me the most, considering all the romance I have been reading recently featuring green dresses. During the 1800s many green pieces of clothing, including artificial flowers on hats, children’s clothing, shoes, gloves, coats, in fact everything were coloured with arsenic trioxide. The girls working with the dyes to make the hats, shoes, and dresses often died horrific deaths. Covered in open sores from handling the toxic dyes, the young women often covered their faces with handkerchiefs to avoid ruining the products. The phenomenon was so widespread, France outlawed the use of arsenic pigments and Punch magazine in England wrote several satirical articles on the issue. Papers across Europe reported the issue and several charitable societies formed to help the afflicted.
According to David, the arsenic in clothing from this period still presents a danger when handling the pieces. So there goes my current romantic fantasy.