Imagine walking around the city and seeing people wearing weird over the top suits style, dresses made with paper, or big white wig dominated in the late 90s.
This might sound strange now, but some of these weird fashion trends in history were considered fashionable.
From lotus shoes to the paper dress, these strange historical fashion trends make even less sense than they did way back then.
Some of us might hate to remember the unfortunate fashion choices and bizarre trends for the history, while others might not know anything about it.
So, let’s take a look to see some of the weird fashion trends from in history that will make you think twice about how far people could go to be a fashion icon of their days.
Lotus Shoes
Lotus Shoes belongs to wired fashion trends in history, when Chinese girls with bound feet used to wear it.
The feet of Chinese women were bounded with long ribbons to prevent growth.
Women with bound feet wore Lotus shoes, cone or sheath-shaper footwear that resembled a lotus bud.
Lotus shoes were made of either silk or cotton and usually were ornate, embroidered with flowers in traditional pattern.
Arsenic Dress
One of the weird fashion trends, Arsenic Dress belonged to the Victorian era which were often known as bottle-green dress.
These dresses were made of fabric, dyed using large amounts of arsenic chemical.
The side effect of these dresses was that many women belonging to this era suffered from skin reactions and nausea due to the dye.
Yet, the dressed were worn only on special occasions, limiting the exposure to arsenic in the fabric.
Crakowes
Crakowes, also popular as the poulaine, the super long shoe reigned supreme with men across 14th century.
The shoes were introduced to England by Polish nobles, thus were named after Krakow, Poland.
The shoes were first seen at the court, then became all the range. They were six to twenty-four inches long.
The shoes were a quick indicator of social status: the longer the shoe, the higher social status.
Hobble Skirts
The long, close-fitting skirts, tight around the ankles, were one of the popular fashion trends of history, but has become a weird ones now.
The skirts were a major trend before the First World War.
These skirts liberated women from heavy petticoats and constricting corsets in the past. Hobble skirts created sever labor crisis when it eliminated demand for petticoats in the past.
Crinolines
Also known as the hoop skirts, Crinolines, were a bell-shaped device that pushed the volume of the skirt to an extreme degree.
These skirts were worn by Victorian women in 1800s, which were originated from petticoats made of linen stiffened and horsehair.
esseThese skirts were unwieldy, yet very dangerous too. A young woman in Boston died when her large skirt caught from fire in 1858.
Powdered Wigs
Powdered wigs were the weird fashion trends followed in late 18th centuries.
The wigs were also called by the name “Macaroni”.
The trend began when a young British men wearing tight, flashy outfits started to wear this extravagant wigs.
In the song called “Yankee Doodle” there is a like “Stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni”? This line referred to the 18th century’s wired fashion trend Macaroni or the Powdered Wigs.
The Paper Dresses
The trend of the paper dressed were a short lived ones in the history.
During the period of 1960s, a paper manufacture started selling mini-dresses made out of paper.
These dresses were a huge hit back in those days, but sadly couldn’t last as they would rip after only one or two uses.
Chopines
Chopines, a wired fashion trend, was quite fashionable in the 16th century.
Noble ladies were mad for the extreme platform shoes known as chopines.
Chopines were made mostly of wood or cork covered in leather and embraced by jewelries.
These shoes were worn by people as a sign of their social status where higher shoes meant higher standard and income. Most of the women required assistant to venture out in their extra tall shoes.
Bombasts
Bombasts, popular dress among both men and women during the period of 16th century, were the exaggerated body stuffing made out of cotton, wool or even sawdust.
These elements were added in the dress to add volume to the area of clothing, particularly the sleeves.
Usually, men sometimes filled their doublets to give illusion of their fuller belly or even to look more muscular.
Stiff Starched Collars
The striff starched collars were a popular fashion trend in the 19th century, but have become wired nowadays.
The starched collars starched to the point of being nearly unbendable and attached with a singular or a pair of jewelries.
The color could slowly suffocate a man, particularly when he was asleep or passed out while having a drink.
Black Eyeliner
Black eyeliner became a wired fashion trend in Ancient Egypt when both men and women started wearing it.
The black eyeliner represented a fashion trend and was also thought to be practical as it protected their eyes from the glare of the sun.
Slashed Sleeves
In the 17th century, slashed sleeves were the height of fashion trend.
People would pull layers of extravagant fabric through the slits to show off their expensive clothes.
However, many people tried to put a stop to it, but they weren’t able to eliminate the slashing clothes completely.
So, the law made in 1634 stated that no any men or women could buy or make any slashed clothes other than one slash in each sleeve and another in the back.
Hennin
A wired fashion trend Hennin, was a pointy Medieval hat that associated with princesses.
Hennins were inspired by the headdresses of Mongolian royalty. The hat could be almost four feet tall.
Flamboyant Cowboy Boots
A trendy shoe craze that took over Mexico in the history was called as Flamboyant Cowboy Boots.
These boots were first worn by the farmers and landowners. The boots were covered in sequin, with pointy toes up to 35 inches long.
It did not take long for these boots to be found on every dance floors across the country in the past.
