People always talk about how crazy today’s fashion trends are. When you take a look at our history, though, you’ll find that humans have always done questionable things in the name of style. 

From toxic beauty treatments to accessories that made it difficult to walk, see, or even breathe, fashion has long been tied to ideas about status, wealth, and desirability. Practicality…not so much. Looking back at some of history’s strangest fads reveals just how far people have been willing to go in pursuit of the perfect look, long before the era of BBLs and hideous but stupidly expensive handbags. 

Here are some of the most unusual fashion trends people eagerly embraced throughout history, despite the risks, inconvenience, or sheer ridiculousness involved.

Consumptive chic (18th &19th century)

View this post on Instagram

Long before heroine chic, Victorian women tried to mimic the symptoms of tuberculosis, aka consumption, because paleness and frailty conveyed ideas of a pure, tragically beautiful leading lady from a Brontë novel. Fragility, after all, was considered peak femininity at the time. 

If you weren’t lucky enough to be afflicted with the disease, you could use makeup to get the pale skin and crimson lips, and wear a dress that slumped your posture.

Eye-Popping Belladonna (Renaissance Venice to Victorian era)

View this post on Instagram

As the story goes, dilated pupils were considered incredibly attractive, and Venetian ladies of the court would squeeze drops of highly toxic belladonna into their eyes to achieve the look. Even though side effects included blurred vision and even blindness.

And again, as consumptive chic took over Victorian England, the drops once again became popular as a way to make the eyes look watery and on the verge of death. Hot. 

Hobble Skirts (1908 and 1914)

As the name suggests, these extremely tight ankle-length skirts, first introduced in France, were so snug that the wearers were forced to take teeny tiny steps. 

When World War I began, these skirts were thought to be seen as wasteful, and quickly went out of vogue. However, they paved the way for........

© Upworthy