Surprising Facts About Fashion and Clothing History

Heels were originally designed for men in the 10th century to help Persian cavalry keep their feet in stirrups.

During the Renaissance, it was fashionable for European nobility to wear clothing made from arsenic-laced fabric which gave a green hue.

The earliest known sewing needles were made from bone and date back to around 19,000 BC.

The wearing of wigs became popular in Europe in the 17th century after King Louis XIII of France began wearing one to hide his premature balding.

In the 19th century, dresses worn by women were so wide that they sometimes had to turn sideways to pass through doors.

The color purple was once so expensive to produce that it was reserved for royalty and the elite.

The bikini was so scandalous when first introduced in 1946 that no Parisian models would wear it, and the inventor had to hire a dancer from a casino.