People will do anything for fashion. It’s a trend of chasing new styles and methods of expression at the expense of form or function, all in the effort of fitting into the hippest craze.
Being fashionable is a symbol of wealthiness. It shows people that you have money to spend on the most expensive brands and products to look just like those born rich or got very, very lucky.
It puts them in the elite, even if it’s just for a day, but some of those fashion choices become fashion consequences.
There have been plenty of detrimental fashion practices done in the effort of staying “with it.”
Anorexic thinness, corsets that warp and squish the waistline and internal organs, piercings over what the skin can tolerate, hair colors that kill the hair itself, wigs heavier than most wooden stands that hold them; it’s a painful world of fashion.
Some trends for quick good looks came with debilitating side effects and lifetimes of disfigurement, such as with the not-so-ancient practice of foot binding.
10 /10 Lotus Feet
The origin of foot binding in China is unclear. The earliest accounts come from the 3rd century in the Southern Qi Empire.
Pan Yunu, a consort of the Emperor, was renowned for having particularly delicate feet and performing light and beautiful dances.
She danced in a room with golden lotus decorations on the floor, which reminded the Emperor of the Buddhist legend of Padmavati, who grew lotus blossoms wherever she stepped.
This is where the term “lotus feet,” which described the binding practice, came from, but her feet were never bound.
9 /10 Lotus Dancing
The practice seemed to originate as an actual act around the 10th century, just before the Song dynasty.
Emperor Li Yu created a 6-foot tall golden lotus treasure with lots of gems and pearls and asked his concubine to dance around it.
But, he wanted her feet to be curled like crescents so only her toes would touch the tips of the bloom. That was impossible due to how feet work, so she bound them in white silk to fix them in place and performed.