The strangest fashion trends in history

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Fashion is moving by leaps and bounds, and unsuccessful trends are quickly becoming a thing of the past. True, some trends have remained relevant for centuries, and some of them are quite unusual. We decided to look back and see what strange ideas people had about fashion and what mark they left in history.

Powdered Wigs

Fashion for them went in France at the court of King Louis XIII, but similar wigs can be seen today, for example, in a British court. Initially, this trend was invented in order to hide the bald head. The king himself was disappointed with the density of his hair and decided to compensate for this with a voluminous wig. The aristocracy had no choice but to follow his example.

Big forehead

The most famous victim of this trend is Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci.

Two centuries before powdered wigs conquered the French, another strange trend was taking over the minds of Europeans. Seeing in the high open forehead signs of aristocracy, women of fashion began to pluck their eyebrows completely and tried with all their might to push the hairline higher. The most famous victim of this trend is Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci.

Lotus shoes

In China, a small foot has traditionally been considered a sign of femininity, so the Chinese have bandaged the feet of little girls for centuries so that they can match this strange fashion. The famous lotus shoes, sewn in the shape of a curved cone, were specially designed for the victims of bandaging. This trend lasted for more than a thousand years, until finally Chinese women realized that it was not worth mutilating their own bodies for the sake of beauty.

Egyptian makeup

Nowadays, Egyptian-style makeup helps create a fashionable look, but in Cleopatra's time, black eyeliner served more utilitarian purposes. In sunny Africa, next to the shining white pyramids, the Egyptians simply tried to protect their eyes from all this glitter, thickly smearing them with black around them.

Pale skin

White skin showed that the woman was a real lady and did not work on the street.

For several centuries, pallor was considered the ideal of beauty in Europe. White skin showed that the woman was a real lady and did not work on the street. However, women of fashion did not just do their best not to sunbathe, they also powdered their faces with white powder before applying red blush and lipstick.

Big sizes

In the portraits of the Renaissance, it is impossible to find thin women, because then magnificent forms were considered the standard of femininity. Extra pounds spoke of wealth and good origin, while slimness was not fashionable and served as an indicator of poverty.

Neck rings

Due to wearing the rings, the cervical vertebrae are deformed and the upper ribs are lowered.

This trend is still found in some African and Asian cultures. We've all seen pictures of women with unimaginably long necks that have evolved as a result of wearing special rings. This is one of the most unhealthy customs, because wearing rings deforms the cervical vertebrae and lowers the upper ribs. Moreover, girls who had barely reached two years old often became victims of this fashion trend.

Koturny

If Lady Gaga wears crazy platforms in your opinion, just check out this medieval fashion trend. Such shoes on a 50-centimeter platform were popular in Europe in the 15th-17th centuries. It was invented to protect the hem of clothing from contact with street dirt and was especially popular in Spain and Venice.

Bird mask

This strange costume was designed to protect healthy people from the plague.

This strange costume was designed to protect healthy people from the plague. The eyes of the mask were painted bright red, and the beak was stuffed with oranges to make it difficult for infection to penetrate. Of course, the plague took away almost half of the population of Europe, and everyone lived in fear of the Black Death, so some of the oddities in fashion can be attributed to general panic.

Ganguro

Originating in Japan in the early 1990s, this style combines a dark tan with very blonde hair. This trend did not last long at its peak, but it still deserves mention as one of the strangest. Girls who fell in love with the ganguro style usually wore very dark foundation, light or white makeup and adored false eyelashes and even pasted rhinestones on their faces.