Technicolored hair , body piercings , armadillo shoes — you’d intend the twenty-first 100 had a lock on out - there fashion trends . But baffling sartorial crazes are scarcely a advanced development . From twisting wigs to personal air freshener to a town full of stilt - walkers , you ’ll find the history books are filled with eyebrow - raising fashion stand for to show off one ’s social position . Here are seven trends that will make you grateful for jeggings ( well , almost ) .
1. Scented Cones
British Museum
Tomb paintings from Ancient Egypt — such as the above , from the Tomb of Nebamun , c. 1350 BCE — portray noblewomen with cones atop their head . In the days before deodorant , these cones acted as their own personal aura freshener . Made of scented wax or grease , the cones were often wear to feast or indoor ceremonial gatherings , where the hot temperature wouldmelt the conesto release a sweet aroma .
However , deficiency of archeological evidence ( an intact cone has not yet been found ) leads some Egyptologists to claim that the strobilus check in the drawings are not meant to be taken literally , but are rather symbolic representation that point the wearers ’ wigs — alsoen vogue — were perfume .
2. Powdered Wigs
Hulton Archive / Handout
It ’s no happenstance that the rise of wigging - making and -wearing stand for with the late-16th century syphilis outbreak .
In the Middle Ages , long hair refer wealth and high social condition for both men and cleaning lady — only the rich could go about their days unhampered by their flowing locks . So , the more follicly - challenged members of the upper and middle classes ( preponderantly those with the awful genital disease ) took to wearing horse , caprine animal , or human pilus wigs , fuck asperukes . They were cake with scented lavender or orange pulverisation to block out the inevitable gnarly smells symptomatic of syphilis .
But the movement turned from necessary to the height of manner when France ’s King Louis XIV ( above ) began wearing wigs . Balding at the age of 17 — again , probable from syphilis — Louis hired 48 wigmakers to keep his stark scalp well covered . When his full cousin , England ’s Charles II , started wearing wigs to hide his salt - and - capsicum pepper plant mop , the furor became a sensation . Powdered wigs were the look du jour until the late 18th century , when the French Revolution and a British taxation on whisker powder caused citizens to embrace their natural state .
3. Chopines
Wikipedia Commons/ Museo Correr dei Veneziani
democratic among Venetians in the 16th and 17th C , chopineswere a precursor to today ’s chopine sandal . As with powdered wigs , chopines were originally invented for practical purpose : Their fatheaded , raise soles were meant to assist women cut through Venice ’s muddy or irregularly paved streets . However , as with the wigs , they came to be associated with riches and status . The improbable the horseshoe , the more of import the mortal .
The trend was hold to dangerous levels as the weapons platform reached dizzying heights . The brake shoe got to be so high — a brace displayed at the Museo Correr dei Veneziani metre in at 20 inches — the wearer call for an attendant to assist her keep her balance . ( Lady Gaga , take note . )
4. A City of Stilt-Walkers
Hulton Archive / Stringer
The platform not high enough for you ? In the 19th century , the people of Landes , France , incorporated Himantopus stilt into their day-by-day supporting players . Tchangues , or “ large legs , ” were make by Landese shepherds to facilitate voyage the brushy , swampy terrain . high up atop the long-legs , the sheepman could wade through pools of water and quickly descale the countryside without discommode to look for road , which were few and far between .
An 1891 clause inScientific American , quotedhere , described the stilts :
But the tchangues were n’t reserved for the shepherds — all the villagers , military personnel , women , and youngster alike , wereskilled stilt - walkers .
5. Bombasting
Wikipedia Commons
Bombasting , or tramp one ’s clothing with extra stuffing , became popular during the Elizabethan earned run average in Britain . At the fourth dimension , both piece and char were make love to bombast their sleeve to create the gigantic “ leg - of - mouton ” poofs we now associate with the fourth dimension period . human beings would also bombast their doublets to make the visual aspect of a fill - out belly . A man ’s Elizabethan doublet could admit as much as four to six pounds of bombast , made from rags , cotton , horsehair , or bran .
While bombasting in the Elizabethan horse sense vanish out of mode in the mid-17th hundred , padding one ’s perceive deficiencies never truly went out of vogue . Men of the colonial and regency periods in America and Britain were know topad their calvesto make them seem more muscular . And the pegleg - of - mutton sleeves made a resurgence at the remainder of the nineteenth one C ( just askAnne Shirleyabout her love of puff sleeve ) . Today , the great unwashed are more probable to pad their bosoms or bottom than their pegleg or coat of arms .
6. Hobble Skirts
Thompson / Stringer / Getty Images
Not unlike high-pitched heels , hobble skirts were on the face of it designed to slow down woman down . The name for this tight - fitting skirt , which became popular at the turn of the 20th C , does make out from the term for tying a horse ’s infantry together to keep it from running off , after all .
Gallic manner designerPaul Poiretis credit with create the first hobble dame in 1910 . His novel narrow silhouette hugged the legs airless and cinched in at the ankles . Of his decision to forgo a corset and petticoat in favor of a sleeker design , Poiret issaid to have boasted , “ Yes , I free the tear … but I shackled the leg . ”
7. The Symington Side Lacer
Historikal Modiste
During the Roaring ' twenty , fashion vogue began to favour a rectangular , boyish figure over an hourglass form . To achieve this straighter silhouette , fair sex enlisted the help of some freshly - fangled undergarments .
The Symington Side Lacer , invent by corset - Divine R. and W.H. Symington , was a type of bandeau peculiarly design to flatten out , rather than living , a charwoman ’s breasts . The wearer would slip the garment over her head and then pull the strap and side laces pie-eyed to smooth out any curved shape .
