I Tell Stories
I Tell Stories Podcast covers a wide range of topics discussed by Colt Draine and Owen "The Mic" McMichael. From the scourge on humanity of violent business hippies and Scott Baio to peculiar Serbian Mother's Day traditions,the boys offer their unique perspective. Revolutionary artists,legends of folklore and bizzare following of fast food items are just a few of the subjects touched on. I Tell Stories aims to bring attention to individuals and occerrences that are too interesting to be forgotten. Two long time friends who keep each other laughing give listeners their take on the world. Everyone has a story, these are ours and those of many others.
Support The Show 👇🏻
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2035680/support
I Tell Stories
Fatal Fashions: Dressed To Kill ☠️
Can fashion kill? Join us for a chilling exploration into history's most dangerous style trends, where the quest for beauty often came with a deadly price. From the haunting allure of arsenic-laden green dresses that led to tragic fates like that of Matilda Schreier, to the mercury madness that defined the felt hat industry, we unravel the perilous choices fashionistas made in the name of style. This episode promises a spine-tingling journey through time, uncovering tales of toxic dyes, suffocating collars, and even radioactive makeup, all while pondering the bizarre and hazardous lengths people went to for the sake of fashion.
Laugh with us as we reflect on how modern fashion has evolved, thankfully prioritizing safety over mere aesthetic appeal. While reminiscing about corseted waists and fanny packs, we offer a friendly reminder to use a dash of common sense before accepting any trend that comes your way. With a playful nod to the past, we humorously caution our listeners to remember that while trends may come and go, staying safe—and stylish—should always remain a priority. So grab your favorite (safe) accessory and tune in for a captivating blend of history, humor, and heartfelt advice.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2035680/support
Support the Show!!!
Uh hoi, hoi. Hey, what's up, bro? How's your day treating you there at Boogie's Bodega, located on the north side of Billings Montana. I forgot the street, First Avenue, right no?
Speaker 2:1802 First Avenue North. Okay, there we go. Yeah, lovely day. I made a fat kid breakfast sandwich consisted of patched chili cheese block melted onto a bagel topped with crispy capicola. Damn, don't sell the bagels here, but the cheese and the Italian ham.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure, got it right here, all right fair enough, All right enough shameless plugging.
Speaker 1:That's right, my friend. Boogie Shock Right. Well, hey, it's my fault. I'm the one who led right into it, the thing that I was just. Whoa, this is our Dressed to Kill episode, owen. If you didn't know, I already named the motherfucker. All right, we're dangerous this time around, guys. So most of this I'm going to source through Carly Southersers, who writes for BuzzFeed and, I'm sure, some other things. But throughout history, my friends, as it is the spooky season, does my voice sound spooky or am I just like whatever in it here? I don't know.
Speaker 1:throughout history, people we shouldn't let you near school buses okay, yeah well, I won't be making that voice ever again. We shouldn't let you near school buses, okay, yeah well, I won't be making that voice ever again. That one is X'd off. Everything from now on time, cole, if they ever call you up to do a children's cartoon, don't do that shit. Nope, all right. So anyway, back to the subject at hand being dressed to kill, apparently, or more like this, it's more like outfits that actually kill you.
Speaker 1:Okay, throughout history and uh, people have gone to great lengths to fit in with others, especially like regarding fashion, which we all kind of know. I mean, at one point in our lives we've all worn something that we felt silly wearing, I feel, in order to, like you know, try to either impress somebody or to fit in with a friend group. It's just how it goes. The desperate need to be like the rest of society outweighed the risk of physical harm and even death at times, and I don't know if I can relate to that with any clothing that I've ever worn. Can you Like? Have you ever worn anything? I don't know, I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean the one time I tried the pinwheel hat to fit in the background. That didn't go too well, but other than that Not much for conversation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, alright.
Speaker 2:Very little.
Speaker 1:So back in the day there was a lot of crazy stuff that people wore and one of them was like these green dresses. They were made with the Wilhelm dye. I hope I'm saying that right Sounds right. What do you think, owen?
Speaker 2:Yeah, german.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Wilhelm Right, wilhelm, perhaps over there, but shout out.
Speaker 1:Germany.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hope to get your ear.
Speaker 1:Word yeah, I mean Frankfurter, whatever it is. You know, let's eat some hot dogs and sauerkraut, guys, right, what were those things? Again, it sounded really good, doesn't matter. Oh, currywurst, yeah, bratwurst with curry ketchup yeah, that shit does sound kind of good actually. So the the dye was like a new shaded dye basically, and it became all the rage at the time. It was used as late as 1871 apparently is one of the accounts that is cited in the article, but people began experiencing like really bad health complications due to the poison which was actually in the dye, and I bet you can't guess what that is, owen, you may know, I feel.
Speaker 2:I don't.
Speaker 1:A for arsenic yeah.
Speaker 2:So it was made with arsenic. Ah, that's right. I knew it was literally some kind of poison, but I forgot that that was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's cool man.
Speaker 1:Word. No, it's all good, but yeah, so like this dye had arsenic in it guys, and so what it would do is it would cause skin lesions and kidney and liver failure, which sounds like a pretty fun way to live, I suppose. Also ulcerations around the fingernails, and one of them was a person who made some gloves out of these. It was one of the sighted things and arsenic salts were detected, and that's kind of how they figured out what was causing the problems.
Speaker 1:But a lot of people did die from this, however, like one of the worst deaths involved a 19 year old factory worker named matilda schreier again cold, to get it right one of these days. She was actually responsible for coating artificial flowers in this deadly green dye, and she also died in a manner that really scared the fuck out everybody, guys. Basically, what ended up happening is she had so much exposure to this, this dangerous dye, that she vomited quote green waters and that the whites of her eyes turned green as well. And uh, the other quote is it was an expression of great anxiety is what her face looked like as she died? That just sounds terrible. So she basically became a green dye fountain as she Spooky. That's pretty weird.
Speaker 2:That's like almost that's on a level of the Irish people that died oh my god, now died green from trying to eat grass because they were starving.
Speaker 1:Hey, hey, we're having fun.
Speaker 2:I guess we knew this wasn't going to be a cheery topic.
Speaker 1:I know, but I thought we'd poke some fun at something. Yeah, and apparently even after this happened, people still wore these dresses because they were such a fashion statement and they basically had talked themselves into. As long as they didn't lick the fabric, they would be fine. Um, I don't know, I guess it is another time, but like, nonetheless, it is kind of a funny thing that these people clearly seen, and they knew it was killing people, you know almost, and uh, there's a lot of doctors speaking out. Uh, doctors quickly figured out that the dye was harming, if not outright killing, people.
Speaker 1:British medical journal reporting well, may the fascinating wearer of it be called a killing creature. She actually carries in her skirts poison enough to slay the whole of the admirers she may meet within a half dozen ballrooms. Hmm, damn, that's an intense statement, guys. I don't know if you want to rewind that and play it back, but however, you know, sadly still the case in modern medical situations people just kind of blow it off. I don't want to get all crazy, but vaccines work, guys, just saying it's proven medical science and as far as of right now, there's no getting around it, I would think. But, yeah, so it's a very real thing that, like these people literally knew that this green dye was killing and hurting them and they still went about their business dressing in these green dresses. Owen, I don't know. Kind of a sad thing, I don't know. Kind of a sad thing, I don't know. Did you want to touch on any of them?
Speaker 2:I did think the crinolines. I don't know if I'm saying that right, but the big puffy Victorian England dresses.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think you got it too, bro, by the way. Crinolines or something? Crinolines yeah, those are pretty crazy.
Speaker 2:And one. There's one where, because they were, you know, it was like a metal thing underneath there.
Speaker 1:Right, it was like a birdcage under their dress that propped it up, made it all poop. There you go.
Speaker 2:Okay, and the one factory worker, it got caught on something and then she just got mangled in the machine. They couldn't stop it. Well, it just yeah. Oh my god, yeah, she didn't die immediately. Yeah, and they look ridiculous. I can't imagine seeing, right, some uh attractive lady, you know, walking around just looking like like she's grimace or something. I mean. But it was Victorian England, we were showing table legs because it was too sexual.
Speaker 1:That's the truth too. We touched on that on an episode at one point.
Speaker 2:I believe.
Speaker 1:So yeah, right, these dresses, though I guess like yeah, that'd be the easiest way to explain it like a metal cage, you know, that props up the dress, and I would assume that it would give the appearance of them kind of just floating across the ground, and it would be similar to something that you would see in a Disney movie at a ball. That's like over exaggerated, but it may not be, because these things do look pretty intense, don't they? They?
Speaker 2:do, and I guess. Uh, two of Oscar Wilde's sisters died after walking too close to an open flame with the trinoine Trinoline lined ballgowns two of them two at the same time.
Speaker 1:I wonder dang, I don't know that would be less bizarre than if it was a separate incidents.
Speaker 2:Like you know, susie, her dress confines. Oh, what should I wear tomorrow? Oh yeah, or jazz cotton flyer. Oh, what should I wear tomorrow? Oh yeah, that looks pretty good. Oh my God, I don't know if it was Susie Wilde. Probably not, and I don't need to. Yeah, correct. Make light of the tragedy. Yeah, tragedy, I just yeah. If it was one and then another one, it was like you think you would have figured out like yeah, maybe burning alive isn't worth the fashion.
Speaker 1:I seem to remember there was a and I don't have notes on this or anything, but there was a story I read one time and it was older, but basically it had to do with ballet and I can't remember if it was the cloth they made everything out of. But they made this cloth and it was super flammable and tons of people had died from it and at one point this like whole stage collapse with this certain kind of cloth they used for ballet and it literally killed like 20 people or something. It was insane. It was a very bad fire.
Speaker 1:So apparently, like throughout history, we've made some bad choices, you know, and what we make our clothes from, or like throughout history, we've made some bad choices, you know, in what we make our clothes from. Or also, milk was a bad choice. Oh my gosh, right, yeah, no, I mean. And also you know we got to think at the same time that you know different eras, different ideas, people think differently. You know what I'm saying. Nothing that we know today. Almost would they have thought they don't. Their whole idea of the world is very different. Um, belladonna, eye drops, I thought was kind of eye-catching. My friend owen mcmichael, uh, so apparently dilated pupils were like just the big thing. At the time of the Renaissance, people wanted this look of like dilated pupils and kind of like they're tripping balls. Right, they could have just done that. God, why don't they go eat some rye or LSD? Oh yeah, not invented yet no, damn it.
Speaker 1:Not that kind of Renaissance. Yeah, they no, but yeah. So basically it was like the dilated pupils and then their very drippy eyes or something kind of. They called it tuberculosis chic. What the fuck, Tuberculosis chic? Okay, guys, leave it to the Victorians.
Speaker 2:That does not. Belladonna just means beautiful woman Like drippy eyes and you know Right, looking like she's from a spaceship. Doesn't scream.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know. No, it just seems insane to me. But you know, whatever right, but what they would do to do this is put actual poison directly onto their eyeballs. What was believed is the Venetian ladies of the court would squeeze a belladonna-like mixture into their eye, basically until they got the look they wanted. Deadly Nightshade, aka Belladonna, is super toxic, so they were actually Okay, so they were squirting belladonna in their eyes. It's not just what they were calling the whatnot. And then the look was tuberculosis chic, and that is insane. I don't even understand. Tuberculosis is a shitty disease. That's what Doc Holliday died from. I know that from Tombstone guys.
Speaker 2:Just saying I think we all know about the Mad Hatter and why hatters would literally go crazy. Right, they were treating hats with mercury until I guess it was December 1st 1941, the US Public Health Service declared this hey, this is a bad idea. You guys notice a pattern here, yeah, A bunch of loons, I know.
Speaker 1:Well, sometimes when you read these things and then you hear like their reasoning to explain it away, you're like what? Why? That doesn't even make any sense. But you know, yet again, put yourself in the times and you're all called up in this, like you know, fashion trend or whatever, and I don't know People just Well, they didn't know and there were no regulations Right oh, well, live, and regulations Right oh well Live and learn.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, but part of it, I guess. So what they would use it for is to turn the animal fur into felt for the hats, and they called the process kerating, apparently because the nitrates had a really bright orange hue. That's pretty interesting. So it was actually the whole fucking hat. You know, I always thought it was the hat band my friend like with the inner liner of it, but it must have been. Just the whole hat obviously felt right. So we learned something today. That's a, that's a thing. Edwardian collars, what, what the fuck is that, owen? I don't know, but we're going to find out. It's a patchable collar.
Speaker 2:so, yeah, so that's. So you didn't have to change shirts. It's just like what that was their huge draw.
Speaker 1:They call them. She calls them a game changer for men in the 19th century. Yeah, I mean, I guess Like whatever, but these things are large. It's like, if I was a guess on this guy's neck here, which he looks like he has a pretty long neck, but these look like they're like four inches long. So it's like your whole freaking neck. Guys, you know, hide your neck tattoos.
Speaker 1:Gang members for sure, get you an Edwardian collar. That's how you get a job, I'm telling you. Yeah, so anyway, how this is deadly. You're like, I don't know right, this doesn't seem like something, a big collar on your shirt. Well, the thing is they're extremely stiff and starched. So, you know, it was probably kind of, you know, hurt. Yeah, so it was hard to turn your neck or lean one way or the other, that that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:And, uh, apparently there was a gentleman who went by the name of uh john cruzzi, uh, who was found dead on a park bench in 1888. Um, he had been out all night partying, kind of, and shit. They determined I think he had some beer bottles around him, something like that, maybe drink. And we know his death was caused by asphyxiation, is what the coroner determined. And so at the end of it, even though there was big marks on his neck, is very obvious to. What happened was is this gentleman fell asleep on a park bench drunk, leaned forward and literally fucking suffocated himself with these collars, this collar. So this fool like, yeah, he totally stopped the windpipe and checked the flow of blood through the already contracted veins causing the death it says. That's pretty insane.
Speaker 2:Those Edwardian collars will kill you. Yeah, that's what Mom always said.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, hey, I got something for our German folks. No, she didn't, she didn't. I got all excited about something, are you sure? I don't know. Recall, that's fucking hilarious. So I got all excited. Sorry, that was brilliant.
Speaker 1:So apparently, these things, these detachable collars, were called father killer or Vatermörder in German because of what we just talked about, because they would cut off the blood supply to the carotid artery and people would just faint and shit and do things like that. That's insane. I would not be wearing those at all. You know, there's a lot of crazy shit out in the world, people, and I guess we just touched on some of these. There's nine of them, I guess, but none of them are. There was radioactive makeup. That was a thing that people used to wear, which seems insane now, but you know, back then they didn't understand that at all. Corsets I could see how those would be dangerous. This is another one on the list and I'm not trying to breeze through this, I just like to get into more podcast land. Yeah, I tell stories, flow of things sometimes, especially when we're doing these ones. Huh, and it's sort of nice to get rolling.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, and some of them, yeah, just pretty well known, where I didn't know about the dress I didn't know about, I didn't know about, yeah, a couple on me that we didn't even mention but weren't as interesting. No, yeah, but the corsets, it's like duh, that just seems like torture, like poor women. You know Right.
Speaker 1:Just squeeze like could you Like have a sandwich, you know, like it's all right, yeah, and then you wonder why these people, like these women, would faint for no fucking reason, like all the time right.
Speaker 2:Well, there was a reason. Yeah, they had a car that like squeezing life out of them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, it's like I have a python around your stomach like all the time. Yeah, it is, it's bad.
Speaker 2:I mean I'm sure there's some really. Yeah, it looks like she doesn't eat.
Speaker 1:How doesn't eat? How wonderful, like what? I don't get the. Yeah, no, I'm not into that either. I mean, like I don't know, I am not into, not into that. Look, either, my friend, the corset can go the way of 1828 or whatever, but it's still around and it is what it is. Guys, just don't let your corset kill you, because I do know that's something people do wear. Ladies and gentlemen out there, nonetheless, on, I tell stories. We just want you guys to be safe at the end of the day, you know, and just live your lives and, you know, use common sense. I hope we don't run into some shit like that. I can't think of anything that would be something directly clothing related. I mean, obviously there's times when, like you know, toddler furnitures are recalled all the fucking time. There's a lot of stuff like that that we see, but I don't think we've seen anything quite like an arsenic dress in our era. So that's a good thing, I suppose, right, owen?
Speaker 2:Fanny packs were close.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, they were pretty close. Hey, they're still around too. Guys, Be careful with your fanny packs. Don't let them get wrapped around your fanny too much, I guess, or your neck or whatever the fuck, I don't know. Whatever you got going on in life, but at the end of the day, we appreciate you If you want to check us out at pitlocksupplycom. We do have some shirts up, and who knows what you'll find. It's always a pleasant experience, I feel. So on that note, I hope everybody has a good day or evening.
Speaker 2:Much love everybody.
