Arsenic and Asphyxiation: Deadly Victorian Fashion
The Victorians had a lot of dangerous habits, but their obsession with lethal fashion trends might just be the most terrifying one.
From catching pneumonia in freezing, sheer Roman-style gowns to romanticising the pale, wasting aesthetic of “tuberculous chic,” the nineteenth century’s blend of strict beauty standards and unchecked chemical innovation produced a wardrobe that was to die for.
In this online talk, the first of a new six-part lecture series, Dr Jay Sullivan will take you through the history of deadly Victorian dress, from the breathless reality of extreme corseting to the toxic allure of arsenic-laced green ballgowns and matching wallpaper. Meet the socialites who literally suffered for beauty, discover the perilous reality of the gaslit stage, and uncover the tragic truth behind highly flammable ballet gowns. Along the way, we’ll answer some of the strangest questions of the era: Why did women deliberately use makeup to look like they were dying of consumption? How did a trendy shade of green become a silent killer in the drawing room? And just how many ballerinas spontaneously combusted in the name of art?
Victorian Manias! is a six-part lecture series covering the Victorians strange and occasionally deadly obsessions. From ferns to freakshows, across ghosts and the gothics and covering curses, collecting and circuses, Dr Jay Sullivan will take you through a century of curious crazes.
Speaker Bio
Dr Jay Sullivan is a writer and researcher based in South London. She holds a PhD from the University of Roehampton and an MA in Victorian Studies from Birkbeck College. Her research blends museum, sensory, and gothic studies with a focus on the Victorian Egyptianised Gothic genre. Egyptian Gothic 1884-1920, published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2025, is her first book.
Curated & Hosted by
Lena Schattenherz Heide-Brennand is a Norwegian lecturer with a master degree in language, culture and literature from the University of Oslo and Linnaeus University. She has been lecturing and teaching various subjects since 1998. Her field of interest and main focus has always been topics that others have considered strange, eccentric and eerie, and she has specialised in a variety of dark subjects linked to folklore, mythology and Victorian traditions and medicine. Her students often point out her thorough knowledge about the subjects she is teaching, in addition to her charismatic appearance. She refers to herself as a performance lecturer and always gives her audience an outstanding experience, Lena’s New Book – Mythical Creatures in Scandinavian Folklore is now available on Amazon
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
