This is not your usual history of fashion – this class will examine the cruelties of fashion. From insidious murder weapons to blaze-igniting crinolines, clothing has been the cause of death, disease and madness throughout history, by accident and design. Clothing is designed to protect, shield and comfort us, yet lurking among our seemingly innocuous garments we’ll find hats laced with mercury, dresses loaded with arsenic and literally ‘drop-dead gorgeous’ gowns. This class will take you on a fascinating journey through the lethal history of women’s, men’s and children’s dress, in myth and reality. So please join us for a sobering, scary tale of dangerous clothing - and by the way, would you like a lovely arsenic green dress with matching hair ornaments? Or, how about a pair of shiny benzene black boots? Or perhaps even an elegant top hat treated with mercury? Deadly, lethal, pestilent!