In our very first mini-episode, we explore the dark and deadly side of fashion. From arsenic-laced fabrics to flaming crinolines, poisoned makeup, and deadly working conditions, this episode uncovers the moments where couture didn’t just kill the runway, it killed people. Join Lo and Presley as they dive into fashion’s fatal history, with sass, insight, and some truly horrifying stories.

What We Covered:

• • Scheele’s Green and arsenic in Victorian fashion
  • Mercury poisoning in hatmakers (Mad as a Hatter)

• • Crinolines that burned, drowned, or crushed women

  • Lead-based beauty standards used by Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots

• • The Radium Girls and radioactive makeup
  • Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (1911)
• • Rana Plaza factory collapse (2013)
• • Why fashion history isn’t always so glamorous

  
  

• Sources:

  • The Arsenic Century by James C. Whorton

  • BBC History: The Colour That Killed

  • Radium Girls by Kate Moore

  • The Lancet medical journal (1861 fire death estimates)

  • New York Times archives on the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

  • The Fashion Archives at the Victoria and Albert Museum

  • Smithsonian Magazine: Crinoline Fire Fatalities

  • NPR: Rana Plaza’s Legacy
    

  Like what you heard?

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  Have a case, crime, or couture disaster you want us to cover? Email us at thekingstalkpod@gmail.com

  
  

  Next Week's Full Episode: We’re back Tuesday with a full-length deep dive as we revisit one of the most disturbing cold cases in Texas history, The Yogurt Shop Murders.

  
  

  Hosted by: Lo & Presley

  Production + Research: The Kings Talk Podcast

  Theme Music:

  Inspirational Chamber Symphony - Classical Royal Royalty Free | Sonican

  Opera Rising | DMassalll

  Cover Art: The Kings Talk Podcast