Group Project made for a marketing class at SCAD Atlanta in the fall of 2020

1. BEAUTY IS
POISON
FASM 247
Marina Saadia & Jada Saunders

2. Table of
Contents:
Foot Binding
Killer Makeup
Tuberculosis
Killer Makeup
Arsenic Green Everything
Maternity Corset
Tapeworm Diet
Crinoline
Activity
BEAUTYISPOISON

3. BEAUTYISPOISON
Foot
Binding

4. Foot
Binding
Introduced in the late 13th century
The earliest evidence came from the tomb of LadyHuang Sheng, who died in
1243.
Foot-binding is said to have been inspired by a tenth-century court dancer
named Yao Niang
Gradually, other court ladies with money and time started foot-binding, making
it a status symbol among the elite.
The most desirable bride possessed a 3inch foot, known as “golden lotus.”
4inch was also acceptable “silver lotus” but 5inch was frowned upon “iron lotus.
The process had to begin in childhood when a girl was 5 or 6.
Once a foot had been crushed and bound, the shape could not be reversed
Foot binding was first banned in 1912.

5. "she reaches for a bottle of ammonia and
washes it over her face, careful to replace
the delicate glass stopper. Next, she dips
her fingertips into the creams and
powders of her toilet table, gravitating
toward a bright white paint, filled with
lead, which she delicately paints over her
features. It’s important to avoid smiling;
the paint will set, and any emotion will
make it unattractively crack"

6. two dominant makeup styles in the 1800s: “natural”
and “painted"
natural look was often achieved through
unnatural preparations
coating the face with opium overnight
wash of ammonia in the morning.
for the ones with sparse eyebrows and eyelashes:
mercury recommended as a night eye treatment
products coated their faces and arms with white
paints and enamels, in an effort to cover their
natural skin tone and mimic an extremely pale
complexion
products were made from lead (corrosive) –the
more paint you wore, the more you needed to
wear to cover your damaged skin.
Lead makeup damaged women’s wrist nerves so
that they couldn’t raise their hands
Killer Makeup

7. Killer Makeup
Victorian beauty ideals all about pallor: upper
class white women wanted an even whiter skin,
which meant that they had the privilege of never
having to work in the sun - Conspicuous leisure
A column form Harper’s Bazaar, was
called “The Ugly Girl Papers: Or, Hints
for the Toilet.” written by a Mrs. S.D.
Powers, a beauty expert of the time,
and became so popular that it was re-
published in 1874 as an anthology. The
“Ugly Girl Papers” has the tone of a
wise aunt with endless advice on how to
solve your beauty woes.

8. Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis is a disease caused
by bacteria called
Mycobacterium.
The disease was known to be
infectious attacking the lungs
and damaging other organs.
Consumption would lead to
vomiting blood, and many
This gave women clear,
beautiful skin at the earliest
stages of consumption.
believed that this was removing
the impurities from their body

9. Red lips and cheeks, pale skin, and thinness were also effects of
tuberculosis that were seen as beautiful.
However, By the mid-1800s, tuberculosis had reached epidemic levels
in Europe and the United States, 25 percent of deaths in Europe.
Tuberculosis became known as a fashionable and sought after illness
during the nineteenth century
The painful symptoms of tuberculosis were idealized and death from
the disease allowed one to die a “romantic death.”

10. BEAUTY IS POISON
Arsenic
Green Everything
• Although it was known to be used as a murder
weapon, the cheap, natural element was used in
candles, curtains, and wallpaper
• Because it dyed fabric bright green, arsenic also
ended up in dresses, gloves, shoes, and artificial
flower wreaths that women used to decorate their
hair and clothes.
• But arsenic fashions were most dangerous for the
people who manufactured them
• The move away from arsenic was hastened by the
invention of synthetic dyes, which made it “easy to
let arsenic go

11. BEAUTYISPOISON
that arsenic was poisonous was certainly
not a secret; every Victorian home had a
bit of the powder lying around for rats
and mice
People applied arsenic cosmetics, gave
their children toys painted with arsenic,
wore dresses and hats dyed with arsenic,
and ate meat dipped into it to keep away
flies.
European countries regulated arsenic,
Britain was slow, and it was only public
demand and new dye techniques that
changed the industry.
“It proved effective: arsenic was
responsible for a mere 1 per cent of the
cases involving industrial poisoning by the
twentieth century,”

12. BEAUTY IS POISON
Maternity Corset
-Maternity corset were introduced in the
1850’s
-They were designed to hide pregnancies
restricting the abdomen growth
temporarily due to its constriction.
- Maternity corsets were laced on either
side of the abdomen,
which allowed a woman to loosen the
garment as her stomach grew.
-Pregnancy during the Victorian era was
not a happy occasion for many women.

13. Maternity Corset
-It was highly common for factory owners to fire
pregnant women.
- Pregnant women could not attend lavish balls,
parties,
concerts nor participate in public events.
-Pregnancy proved women were not modest creatures
leading to women hiding their pregnancy from public
to avoid any discomfort for others.

14. Tapeworm Diet
"The idea is simple, and gross. You
take a pill containing a tapeworm
egg. Once hatched, the parasite
grows inside of the host, ingesting
part of whatever the host eats. In
theory, this enables the dieter to
simultaneously lose weight and eat
without worrying about calorie
intake."

15. All concerns for health and discomfort could
be dismissed with the claim that beauty is
pain, and sacrifices must be made
To get rid of the now-unnecessary parasite,
dieters would employ the same methods as
those unwillingly afflicted by the worms
It comes as no surprise that many patients
choked to death before the tapeworm was
successfully removed.
it does not change the fact that people
bought and swallowed them in the hopes
that a gigantic worm would live in their
digestive system.
The idea continues to be around. Its presence
is evidenced by the numerous online forums
dedicated to the question of the diet’s
efficiency, and the questionable reports of
Mexican clinics that will give you the
treatment for a couple thousand dollars.

16. Belladonna is a poisonous plant that has been used as a medicine.
Belladonna” stands for “beautiful women” of Renaissance Italy.
Belladonna also is another name for deadly nightshade, murder berries and devil
berries.
Drops of Belladonna in the eye led to enlarge pupils, which was seen as attractive.
Many believed it to be the poison that caused Juliet to appear dead in
Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
Belladonna made it hard for women to see and absorbing a large amount could
cause hallucinations and seizures
Women of the Victorian era knew of these dangers and continued to use this
poison anyway.
Eyes Shining with Poison

17. Eyes Shining with Poison

18. Is a stiffened underskirt made
using horsehair and linen or cotton,
invented in the early 1840s.
These skirts were the followers of
the “panniers” women’s underwear
worn in the 17th and 18th centuries
that enabled extending of the skirt
at the side, thus creating a large
side-squared dress that properly
displayed the garment’s
decorations.
The enormous size of the crinolines
was challenging and made life
harder
Crinoline

19. Severely injuries of women or they
were even burned alive when a
candle or a spark from the fireplace
would accidentally flame by
touching the crinoline.
Sometimes the hoops would also get
caught in machinery or be run over
by carriage wheels
because of the lenght and amount
of fabric the crinolines were also
known for bringing diseases into the
house (cartoon)
2,500 deaths in London alone from
fire on account of the monstrous
skirt

21. ACTIVITY
Get Your
Phones Ready!

22. "Beauty is Pain"
JULIE-ANN