Have you ever noticed the beautiful greens in paintings from the Victorian period? That rich, brilliant green seemed to be everywhere. It appeared in dresses, ribbons, gloves, wallpaper, artificial flowers, books, and decorations for the home. It was the kind of green that immediately drew your eye. Deep, elegant, and almost too beautiful to be real.
Before these vivid pigments were developed, it was difficult to produce a green that remained bright. Many earlier greens faded, dulled, or changed with time. Then these remarkable new shades appeared, and people fell in love with them. I can understand why. Even today, when we see a Victorian gown in that rich emerald color, it is hard not to stop and admire it.
The Victorians did not simply wear green. They surrounded themselves with it. It climbed across their wallpaper in leaves and vines. It appeared in the flowers on their hats and the fabric of their dresses. It covered books, decorated toys, and brought the color of the garden into their homes. A fashionable woman wearing one of these vivid green gowns must have been difficult to overlook when she entered a room.
Of course, fashion has always been about more than covering the body. It tells other people something about us. The color we choose, the shape of a dress, or the way we decorate our homes can quietly announce that we understand what is fashionable. This green was new, desirable, and admired. Naturally, people wanted it.
Unfortunately, some of the most popular green pigments contained arsenic. The greatest danger often fell upon the workers who handled the pigment every day while making artificial flowers, wallpaper, fabric, and other fashionable goods. The powder could be breathed in, settle on the skin, or flake away from finished products. Illnesses and some deaths were linked to arsenic-green goods, although historians cannot tell us exactly how many people were harmed by them.
Warnings eventually began to circulate, but beautiful things can be difficult to give up, especially when everyone else still wants them. Some people questioned the danger. Others believed the amount used in clothing or wallpaper could not possibly be enough to hurt them. Manufacturers certainly had little reason to discourage people from purchasing such a popular color.
It is easy for us to look back and wonder how anyone could continue wearing or decorating with something once they suspected it might be dangerous. Yet every generation has had fashions that required discomfort, questionable ingredients, or a little willful blindness. Sometimes the desire to be beautiful speaks more loudly than common sense.
I must admit that I understand the attraction. I would have loved the color. I might have admired the dresses in every shop window and imagined how beautiful that green would look in a gown of my own.
But this is one trend that, as much as I would have loved to wear such a beautiful color, I would gladly erase from history.
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