Consumptive Chic: A History of Beauty, Fashion, and Disease

Long before "heroin chic" made headlines, the emaciated figure and feverish flush associated with tuberculosis victims were admired as beautiful. As the disease spread throughout Europe in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, it became commonplace to regard tuberculosis as a positive affliction, one to be emulated in beauty practices and dress. While medical writers believed that the fashionable way of life of many women actually rendered them susceptible to the disease, Carolyn A. Day investigates the deliberate and widespread flouting of admonitions against these fashion practices in the pursuit of beauty. Read more