Victorian era skirt fires : Just dangerous fashion, or a bigger tragic history?

[@isabelleblanchet3694]

I wear layers of long skirts every day in the Canadian winter because that's the only way I am not freezing (easier to layer skirts than pants). I've knocked stuff and gotten stuck on stuff without noticing, so i can understand how a skirt could catch fire. Long skirts can almost have a mind of their own.

[@bunhelsingslegacy3549]

Getting caught on stuff is one of the reasons I don't winter skirt even though I can stay warm that way, I'm also bad for tripping over my hems, even did that and went down on my butt in my wedding dress... I just layer pj pants and sweat pants, then outside pants if I have to leave the house. Some of us are just safety hazards in long skirts...

[@isabelleblanchet3694]

@@bunhelsingslegacy3549 Oh wow. yeah, I'm not that bad. Must be because I have not worn pants (excluding pyjama pants) for over 5 years, maybe more. I wear skirts and dresses exclusively.

[@cynthiawood2000]

One of my great-great aunts died from having her skirt catch fire. Although my grandmother (who lived with her for several years), attributed the fire and death more to Auntie's habit of turning the gas on her gas oven on full, throwing a match in, and jumping back, than to her choice of clothing.

[@kathleenwoods8416]

I love that evidence that hazardous Aunts have always been a thing.

[@roegenaile9297]

As a former reenactor, I can assure you that " stop, drop, and roll"does, NOT work wearing a crinoline!

[@scafleet]

Petition for the sew- along video of a skirt/dress specifically designed for crimes, including smuggling.

[@pippaseaspirit4415]

I don’t believe that snuggling is considered a crime nowadays!

[@scafleet]

@pippaseaspirit4415 heh heh, oops.

[@archervine8064]

Not a fatal example, but one thing this made me think of was the scorched dress young Jo March wears to the party early in Little Women. I don’t think when I read that as a kid that it really hit me a) just how dangerous that could have been or b) how careless Jo was in damaging items that would have been very expensive for her family.

[@SkyeID]

Jo March was the first example I thought about

[@RebelLeigh]

I thought about this too.

[@herballady4701]

Me too!

[@electric_spacecats]

I'm a superfan of the Winona Ryder film, but I do not remember this from the novel. Which part?

[@archervine8064]

@@electric_spacecats looks like Chapter 3

[@karladenton5034]

I've done a LOT of open fire cooking while camping - both with modern gear and US civil war / Kansas frontier reenactment gear and dress. You VERY quickly learn an almost instinctive sense of where your hems are at - both in terms of fire and also general safely (ie walking on boardwalks, trails, etc). Honestly, I'd rather cook in a wool dress than a nylon windbreaker as far as sparks are concerned. Nylon MELTS. Good points on the reporting bias and the unconscious perception of risk that it creates. Have a Happy Hanukkah!

[@emmarichardson965]

Years and years ago, a man my parents knew reached into the oven while wearing a tracksuit/windbreaker (probably nylon, this was the 90s). Something happened and his sleeves instantly caught fire. It was nasty. He survived, but it was quite traumatic for all involved. All this to say, I agree with your assessment 100%!!

[@sevenember3332]

Nylon doesn’t just melt, it *sticks* which makes it all the more dangerous

[@signespencer6887]

Death of mostly young women by burning clothing is a big issue in India even today. Fire is one of the leading causes of death there.

[@mirandarensberger6919]

Not just historical garments. I remember in the early 2000s when platform shoes were making a comeback, reading a newspaper article that cited two cases of people getting into car accidents because their platforms made them unable to get to the brake in time. As with the crinolines, it was a case of the bulkier garment being outside of one's accustomed proprioception. Also as with the crinolines, while the case were tragic, we didn't hear stories of all the people who wore them without incident.

[@isabelleblanchet3694]

I'm sure there were cases of skirt catching fire that did not make it into the news either. Like today only the most sensational stories were reported upon.

[@archervine8064]

My grandfather had a rule against wearing sandals while driving because of the possibility of a pedal getting caught between the sandal and toes. I never did ask if it was just considered good practice when he was growing up or if there were stories of accidents. Just seems a little odd to today eyes to worry about that when seat belts weren’t yet standard.

[@isabelleblanchet3694]

@@archervine8064 In driving class we had to wear closed toes shoes with no heels.

[@archervine8064]

@@isabelleblanchet3694 interesting - we didn’t have driver’s ed really where/when I was that age, so my mother was my primary teacher.

[@isabelleblanchet3694]

@@archervine8064 Driver's ed is mandatory here.

[@lenabreijer1311]

As someone who spent a lot of time camping as a kid, in canvas tents that were waxed, we learned a lot of fire safety early in life. I have a bit of a phobia about fire so when i see modern people treating candles like electric lights it makes my hair stand up. Open flame, polyester clothing, we don't need crinolines to go up in flame. We have a fireplace in our new to us house. We had the chimney swept and some bricks replaced. The worker spent 15 minutes talking about fire safety to us, including wood storage and what not to put on the fire ... gasoline, oil....

[@saraquill]

When I went to weekend Girl Scout camps, one of the rules was that if you wore synthetic clothing, you weren't allowed to go wihtin arm's reach of a fire to add fuel or anything. Our Scout leaders had a short but vivid explanation of how tricky first aid is around melted synthetic clothing. Then there's my mom, who thinks nothing of starting a fire then going to bed. She stopped doing this when I asked, but I'm not thrilled I had to ask in the first place.

[@caveatemptor93]

I have candlesticks for ambiance and possible lighting backup in a power outage - and you better believe I got glass chimneys for them. Chimneys disperse the light better, and provides a shield for the flame. I don’t love exposed flame.

[@vickymc9695]

Oh know what you mean. The house I grew up in was coal fired. And the candle thing scares the smeg out of me, with how blase they can be. Even saw some numpty trying to setting a fire without the fire basket once, not even in central if the grate. That is how set fire to the mantle, break the harf, and flood the room with smoke. Grumble grumble

[@margotmolander5083]

One of my ancestors (the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s wife) died when she dropped a pack of self-lighting matches under her skirts and didn’t notice quickly enough be for her dress went up. Personally I think that’s more of a match problem than a dress problem (I once watched my elementary school principal set a whole book of matches on fire by pulling the out of her pocket). Right now I’m just trying to teach my toddler not to touch the menorah (or blow it out thinking they’re birthday candles).

[@lesleyharris525]

I used to be childminder and had to have a fire blanket, extinguisher and fire guard, plus the usual alarms and co2 monitors, it's still surprising how many people still remove the batteries. 😢 last year in my town several people died from this, new years resolutions folks "check the smoke detectors are working." Happy New year to everyone. ❤

[@astriddean6433]

My first thought on worst places to be wearing a crinoline skirt: Public transit.

[@resourcedragon]

Second worst place: any type of seat or chair!

[@esmeralda3858]

Yes, I've read newspaper reports about deaths caused by crinolines getting caught on wheels.

[@deszeldra]

One of my ancestors came to Australia because she was caught smuggling fabric under her dress.

[@JenInOz]

Not just house fires... I'm sure I read about at least one famous ballerina who died as a result of her treated tarletan (sp?) tutu catching alight in the theatre (gas) stage lights 😢

[@vickymc9695]

Ohh this was still a hazard when I was a kid. Dance clothes didn't have to have fire safety regulations (90s ), and could go up in the winter months. My ballet teacher was the first one to teach us how to do stop drop and roll.

[@alyssafitzgerald83]

Yup! They talked about it in my dance history class as one of three tragic dance deaths. There were fire retardants that could be applied to the fabric so that it wouldn’t happen, but they made the fabric droop and not look as nice. Ballet houses were also an open secret as being brothels as well, so not looking as nice directly correlated to not having the extra money to afford food. The trend at the time was thick rather than skinny(which only came about later with Balanchine’s casting in the middle of the 1900s) so it would be a death loop of too skinny, no men, no extra food, starving skinny. The ballet houses managers/owners publicly said that they couldn’t /force/ their dancers to take precautions while also threatening the dancers behind closed doors to not make themselves look less appealing. The Parisian ballerina in question caught fire onstage then died of her injuries a few days later with a newspaper interview that is how we today have a record of her story. This is also why electric lights in places like Bath, England made it safer for show performances during the holiday season. Fire in a theatre can burn your dancers and your stage down to the ground.

[@wafarerinjapan]

Yes, Smugling Vid PLEASE!!! 😆 Thank you for another wonderful fun video & hope you have a good exchanging of the years.😊

[@FlybyStardancer]

I imagine the space between the edge of a hoop skirt and the body also makes it slightly harder to notice when one’s caught fire, but I have no interest in testing that!! We haven’t used our fireplace in a while, but it has metal chain drapes around it as a built-in safety feature, but it’s still something that needs to be very careful. Ours is set in the edge of an interior wall, so both the front and one side of it are open & accessible (other than the drapes), which is unusual.

[@SkyeID]

I think you wouldn't notice right away that you're on fire

[@susanruan3663]

The fireplace in my childhood home had metal chain drapes too. I never realized it was a safety thing, but in my defense, the fireplace was rarely used.

[@ChrisFixedKitty]

If the chimney hasn't been used in awhile, you might want to get it cleaned first so old creosote doesn't catch.

[@sevenember3332]

Given the nature of my disabilities, combining myself and crinoline style skirts would be a disaster. I have a tendency to stumble at times, especially when I’m tired and would absolutely stumble into a fire by accident. That combined with my lowered spacial awareness would inevitably result in the house and myself going up in flames. And this isn’t entirely theoretical, given how I sometimes struggle when I’m in a modern full length skirt

[@kathyjohnson2043]

In the Victorian era, my ancestors were mostly farmers so no large skirts of any kind were worned. They would have made their 'Sunday Best' skirt fuller but if it was too full they would have been seen as wasteful and ostentatious. Most of the pictures I've seen they are in a version of a walking skirt with a fancier white blouse, some with lace. Blouses were a good choice because you could change your look more easily as well as hand them down to younger family members without drastic alterations.

[@RoseFire6]

I have done my fair share of camping. I have pants with small burn hole, and I have a friend with melted shoe sole from campfires. Fire is dangerous. I can't imagine all the accidents in cities due to using fire on a daliy bases.

[@lugo5678]

Yes, please do a video about smuggling.

[@ArtemisiaGentileschi5353]

My mom's nightgown caught on fire once in the 70s! Apparently it was such a problem that the nightgowns were made with special chemicals to avoid injuries. This was a funny video to be watching during fire week, maybe I shouldn't have worn my cape during chanukiah lighting. Happy Chanukah!

[@nessc5825]

The fact that some of the “plastic” of the era was prone to spontaneous combustion. So the fans, jewelry, and especially billard balls we’re a hazard just walking around

[@Tisiloves]

Heating bills is why I'm currently sewing a smock out of an old fluffy blanket. Part of the reason I made sure I could roll the sleeves up is that we have a gas hob

[@jenniferbailey1580]

…my aunt, in her 70s, tells me that when she was a girl a lot of the proper Southern women hid pregnancy. They were housewives and between camouflaging loose clothes in the middle and not leaving the house (maybe sneaking into the car to see their mamas or siblings in something like Victorian mourning “this is close enough kin not being in society”) and being seated under an afghan when people visited (the help helped here…) there was a lot of… people in the know might suspect but it wasn’t a countdown it was “there is a 7 lb new resident of the town suddenly.” Which possibly covered up more than 1 adoption, back when that was… preferably permanently kept under the afghan. More sneaky adoptions than infanticides given my aunt, a fellow History major, limited this to a class that could afford to find options when there was no way to pretend the math mathed in a way that kept the family in societies’ (overly prim) graces. Along with the need for most women to do the shopping, hang the wash, take the bus to where their employer is gonna fire them (from under her afghan) because she’s showing and it isn’t proper, do the delicate factory task they let a few women keep after the manly men got home because they did it before, take older kid to dentist…

[@resourcedragon]

The method of pregnancy hiding I've heard about most often is the pregnant girl or woman "going to stay with an aunt" in another county or state. It was also not uncommon for the relatives of the illegitimate child to adopt the child. I had a friend who worked out that his grandparents had adopted his father and that his father's favourite sister was actually his father's mother.

[@jenniferbailey1580]

@@resourcedragon yeah… a young girl/woman was expected to be at her school, to socialize in more active activities rather than having neighbors over for tea. A sport (my grandma was on a basketball team at her school despite being the oldest daughter of 12 kids. She did all the sewing for the girls in the family, her mom considered doing her own sewing her hobby after growing/canning 600 quarts of produce a year etc). The rules for how to socialize shifted a lot between the teen/provisional adult (those between 18 and 25) years and settled adulthood. And yup, a young matron wearing clothing styles that didn’t nip in at the waist right when her eldest sister’s daughter “goes off to help Cousin S, who has one of the multiple conditions that were why Girl Scout handbooks still had basically ‘how to care for a bedbound housemate’, because they have no closer kin and Cousin S has 3 littles to be minded.” Or goes to some European boarding school if no girl of their class changes linens on her own bed. Whatever. And the adoption may or may not be more legal than the Cuthberts being the 3rd or 4th “adopters” of Anne Shirley. Especially if they didn’t want a paper trail. Only the baby delivered in the bed warmer uses Mom and Dad (or equivalents). All brought to us by the remnants of Victorian upper classes’ inability to directly acknowledge their womenfolk’s pregnancies. (And is it “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” where one of the middle class girls is shocked because you… can’t say Mary was pregnant it’s not done?)

[@ProfessorChaosKitty]

Sometimes when wearing a back pack I forget to allow room for it and bump into things regularly. I'd be an absolute disaster area in a crinoline

[@kathyjohnson2043]

Regarding the guy saying that you could hide a pregnancy under your dress and then kill the kid, since women of the era who could afford to not work were either at home or visiting other women in their homes, I doubt if he had ever seen a pregnant woman, at least that he realized was pregnant!!!

[@kirabowie]

As someone who's been burned before, and it's NOT pleasant, the thought of catching my skirts on fire is terrifying. Thankfully, that happened when I was an adult, but as a kid I LOVED reading "Little Women" and in Jo scorches her skirts by the fire and I think one was a party dress too. 😆I'm glad it never hit me that the poor thing could have set herself on fire. 😆

[@m.maclellan7147]

Great video. Yes, please, to the smuggling video !

[@kathleenwhalen1450]

Smuggling please! My friends call my court Renaissance Festival skirt as the skirtbof holding. Although it does suck to wear into a porta potty on the mud days.

[@efahall._.]

LOL I made a hoop skirt sort of situation from hula hoops and pompoms for an alien costume for a fancy dress party. That thing was awesome and also treacherous.

[@heidibock1017]

I was going to say I wouldn't want to wear a crinoline on the subway, but then again, if it kept people away.... I certainly wouldn't want to wear one while doing any of the jobs I have held (bounced between various food service and office work).

[@TheLonelyGod42]

I have ideas for your bathroom! I've had a similar challenge with the lack of natural light in my bathroom and desire to make it feel less boring. My roommate found LED string lights that are attached to fake vines and hung them and back and forth across the ceiling. It means that we now have soft lighting and it feels a little bit like you're in a grotto with vines growing over head

[@gadgetgirl02]

I'm watching this the same day I learned about a woman who died of carbon monoxide poisoning, because something had broken in her house's gas furnace. I can see gas heating and cooling having a similar reckoning in the coming years. I didn't grow up with gas stoves, and was shocked when I stayed over at a relative's for a week and had to use their gas stove -- my first experience doing so. Not just the smell, but how easy it was to have the gas flowing with no ignition happening. I know a lot of people think of gas as normal and safe, but it doesn't come across that way if you're not used to it.

[@kathyjohnson2043]

I love it when you talk to your 'other' self.

[@SimpleDesertRose]

I'm with pajama V, I want a smuggling video! After my first living history event, i can honestly say I don't wish to drive in a crinoline. Even a modern one that you can fold up and bend its just too much bluk. In fact I drove an hour to the event in nothing but my chemise and corset. Which also sucked due to modern bucket seats. Which sucks in general when you have scoliosis. However I did manage to drive a couple miles to the nearest Dutch Bros to treat my kids and myself to some chai. I took everything off right there in the parking lot and drive an hour home in my chemise and corset. One does have the luxury of camping out when you are a homesteader with animals to feed. I'm also not sure i woukd want to pump gas either in a croline now that I think about it. The pumps i. AZ dont have the ssme saftey regulations as they do in CA and sometimes the nozzle drips. I would hate to have spent all that money on the reproduction fabric and putting the dress togther just to have gas spill on it. If I were to generate enough static i could potentially create a spark and go up in flames. It might be a struggle to get the skirt and croline off before I was seriously burned.

[@TheiaofMeridor]

My wool apron dress ended up with a scorch on it in the front from being too close to either fire or hot metal (I don’t remember which) but it never actually caught fire. It may have been damaged due to being only a wool blend on that part, idk. I also ended up with some scorching on the back of my rectangular construction dress skirt from backing up too close to a fire for warmth during one of my instances being outdoors in kit in freezing temperatures. Both of these were patched over for aesthetics and are still being worn as workday dresses

[@electric_spacecats]

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's wife died in one summer in the 1860s when she burned to death in a tragic accident when her crinolined skirts caught fire.

[@anyawillowfan]

I'll be honest, the whole way through this video I kept thinking it would be perfect for a Ground News sponsor, and fully expected you to mention it, given the number of times you talked about media bias. Hope you're looking after yourself this holiday season xx

[@katebowers8107]

No mention of Little Women!? Jo has a bad habit of standing too near the fire and routinely scorches her dresses.

[@vickymc9695]

Hehe smuggling skirts sound like a brilliant video

[@rebeccaaugustine8628]

I would NEVER want to wear a crinoline! When I was 8 years old, my mom had me wear a hoop skirt under my "Sunday" dresses! First, I bent the ring trying to keep the d*mn thing down until I learned to sit in it! Even after I learned, I always despised it! In H.S. I would NOT wear full skirts. (I lived in the S.F. Bay Area where there is constant gale force winds. At this time slacks were "verboten" in school -- although micro-minis were permitted!) My mom thought I was being rebellious! I was just being modest! FINALLY, in the 1970s slacks were permitted not only in school but in HOUSES OF WORSHIP! How sensible! How SAFE! How WARM during winter months! Even the church elders approved! (How could they not?)

[@DeadMansFist849]

Well, thinking of hypothetically physically able version of me....I wouldn't want to wear a hoop skirt into anywhere with automatic doors (e.g. lifts) or fire doors (like a lot of houses or apartments). I get anxious about my clothes or bags getting caught in/on things as it is.

[@michellecornum5856]

I wear a dress every day, and I don't want to wear them while sweeping someplace moderately dusty, or near the cats' water bowls or food dishes. I always manage to get my hems dusty, wet, or with some amount of eet cat food on them. And none of my house dresses have floor length hems. I'm also constantly knocking over things that are low to the ground. Anything setting knee high or lower-- over it goes. I can imagine the havock I would wreak if my skirts were floor length or if I had a crinoline. And yes, smuggling video, please

[@cat2mcdonald168]

One of my major tasks during a festival I work is building, lighting, and maintaining a small bonfire on Friday night. That is *definitely* not the time for a hoop skirt! I do wear a skirt, but it's made of riveted leather and stays pretty close to my legs.

[@Olive-765]

Trying to think of the most absurd crinolin situation: what about a hoop skirted astronaut.

[@Elfenvampir]

There was something worse. There was a short time when chardonnet silk was a modern fabric. Chardonnet silk is nitrocellulose, that is an explosive. 1919 shortly after WW I was a story in my hometown that a woman wearing an ball dress from chardonnet silk burst in a short and very hot flame and died. She was standing next to am man with a cigarette. So there was a short period of time, wher women were wearing dresse made from freaking explosives.

[@nicoleachilles8765]

Absolutely would love the smuggling video. ❤ The situation where I wouldn't want to wear a crinoline skirt is driving my car. It's a VW Polo and perfect for European city traffic, but I doubt I would be able to see the road over all that fabric, even with the cage collapsed. 😂

[@stephend50]

I think we still have those attitudes. "Poor" person with too nice a phone?

[@resourcedragon]

Oh, yes! 💯% And "welfare queens". God forbid a poor person isn't also miserable, that they have any leisure time of any sort whatsoever. But it's perfectly legit to try to sell them shit they can't afford and don't need.

[@GM-tx7yp]

I'd love to see you talk about historical smuggling ! Also, Nicole Rudolph did a video a while ago on a similar topic, but with a focus on the particular fabric that was most likely to spontaneously combust! Weighted silk was known to catch fire if it got too hot, and some cargo ships refused to carry silk bc of this. Love your videos, and hopefully the coming year(s) are kind to you!

[@scalylayde8751]

Wait, they used Edenborough as a model? Wasn't that city FAMOUSLY overcrowded even for the time? Not saying house fires weren't a huge problem, but it feels weird to use a famously crowded city with pockets of really intense poverty as a barometer for the entire UK, which includes a lot of rural areas too.

[@DanielleStJohn]

Misogyny (bigotry in general, if I'm being honest) in media coverage is such a freakin' nuisance. Hell, we're *still* seeing it everywhere (*coughcough*BlakeLively*coughcough*).

[@FoxglovedLove]

I would be very afraid of a full skirt catching fire near a fireplace or open flame. I have be careful of a similar thing when I wear dramatic sleeves and have candles lit. Please do the smuggling video!!!!!

[@Mommamacnz]

Yes please on a video about smuggling. And I think farm chores or gardening would not be something you could do in a crinoline or even do easily in a less voluminous garment.

[@annlidslot8212]

Hi, The smuggling sounds intriguing. Especially if I think of the opera Carmen, who worked among other things with smuggling, and wore skirts. I know that it's a fictional work, but even so. I agree with the sentiment of the month has been rough. I live in Scandinavia, but statement stands. Yours, Ann

[@TheEliseRodgers]

Going to need that “how hoop shirts made the perfect smuggler tool video”😊

[@MissiveCauseIMissYou]

Always a good reminder that even hard numbers can contain biases in how they're presented and what is left out, thank you for such an interesting video!

[@Adriell.h.b.]

Smuggling??? Do tell!!!

[@alyssafitzgerald83]

My job at a grocery store would be terrible with a crinoline. Can’t clamber up or down step ladders, constantly kneeling to get things on a low shelf, and taking up the entire isle while trying to get past someone else are all very bad things to be dealing with at work. Oh, the part about maids and petticoats has me recall a (fantasy) comic on class discussions called “This Isekai Mair Is Forming A Union” on WEBTOON canvas. The author is really good about making sure that skirts are far from flames. It mix and matches various eras of dress history being based more on artistic representations and logical extrapolations rather than reproductions or historically surviving garments, so not very accurate but might be a fun read. It also has queer, neurodivergent, and POC representation which is dismally rare in romance fantasy comics. Most of the viewers on this channel would have an interest in those topics at least. Also, give us the smuggling video. I wanna know how to hide a whole as loaf of bread or illegal documents in my skirts.

[@resourcedragon]

There is some CCTV footage of people putting things like a 6 pack of beer up their skirts for shoplifting purposes. It is quite extraordinary what people can manage, even in modern clothes. My favourite story, though, is of the old man who slumped to the ground while waiting to go through the checkout. He had hidden a frozen chicken under his hat, with a view to getting a 5 finger discount on it, but the long wait resulted in him getting hypothermia. (This was some years ago, before they had self-checkouts.) I suspect that with a crinoline skirt, you could smuggle approximately half the contents of an entire house!

[@catherinejustcatherine1778]

To answer your question: I don't want to wear a hoop skirt and crinoline while operating power tools, whether giant table-attached ones, or handheld(ft. Machine accidents). Nor, would I want to wear them around mosquitoes, unless they were firmly against mosquito-free ground/grass/floor. Infact, no skirt is comfy, or "safe" in either of these situations (once physics goes awry)

[@nymeria941]

Omg the illustration of Miss Havisham the Human Torch in my great illustrated classics childhood copy literally haunts me to this day. That was the single most impactful scene in the book when I was a kid.

[@nymeria941]

And when you said “I don’t even like going to bed while my Shabbat candles are still burning,” I EMPHATICALLY nodded my head!

[@mirandarensberger6919]

Smuggling? Yes, please!

[@msmmmonster3129]

I would love a video about big skirt crimes.

[@marthaschwartz5031]

Back in the 1950s, ruffled nylon party dresses were fashionable for young girls. One girl (who must have been around 10) wanted to get something down from a cupboard above the electric stove. She stood on a chair; the stove was off but had recently been on. The heating element was not visibly red but was hot enough to set her dress aflame and her legs were burned. I have a cat and would never have an open flame in my house.

[@kitfinn4266]

I have lived most of my life near historic village museums of the American Colonial period. I have been made aware that "falling into the fire" was a serious safety concern for parents of crawling and fiddling babies. Children did die that way.

[@jmchau]

Smuggling? Yes. (And thanks for reminding me that I hadn’t paid my gas bill this month. I have now.)

[@aridragonbeard745]

I'd love to see a Mythbusters-style test/demo of this

[@kirstenpaff8946]

These newspaper articles remind me of the sensationalized local news stories that make it sound like all teens are hooked on some new drug because there was one case five states away.

[@kida4star]

Oh, how to smuggle with hoop skirts! Please 🙏

[@MusicWisp]

14:25 Not me listening to this as I’m working on figuring out a crinoline for Padme’s Delegation Dress (green dress she wore when she’s pregnant… and kinda hiding it from everyone) 😂

[@KarolaTea]

Yeah long flowy fabrics can be a safety issue. First thing you learn when working with machines/power tools is to wear tight clothes, tie up and cover your hair, and _no gloves_ with anything that spins. But these days that's only really an issue when you're working directly with the tool yourself. Walking around a modern factory in a hoop skirt would probably be safe, since all moving or dangerous parts _should_ generally be covered. I wouldn't want to wear a crinoline at home since most of my apartment's quite narrow lol.

[@AnnekeOosterink]

I once responded to a comment about how hoop skirts caught on fire all the time, and that that was the primary danger for women and hoop skirts. And like. Okay, sure, it happened, but just the fact that everyone was around open flames at all times means that the amount of fires period would be much much higher than now, and hoops in that context aren't any more dangerous than anything flammable near a fire. But this person could not get it into their head that fire was everywhere and that the risk of something catching fire as a result was higher because of that. If 100% of houses have open fires in several rooms, then the risk of something, anything, catching fire goes up. In the same way that the number of car crashes goes up between 1900 and 1950 because there are more cars on the road.

[@winterburden]

Thanks for this fascinating video!

[@beagleissleeping5359]

I don't need to have my chimney inspected. A previous owner of my house kindly filled it with concrete, rendering it unusable, and I can't even install a gas version without a huge expense. Thanks for that, whoever you were 😢

[@nlkeyser]

Omg I hate washing my hair in the winter cause then I'm freezing until my hair dries. Also this topic reminded me of that horrible scene at the end of Great Expectations.

[@ArielEveMachado]

Yes I would love a video about smuggling with fancy dresses!!!

[@neldahargo5933]

seems to me a hoop skirt would be disadvantageous driving a car

[@Redboots]

having gone on a bit of a tangent during one of my assignments for a class earlier this year, this is basically what I'd have loved to say in response to a poorly sourced section of a book that had, up until that point, been very meticulously researched and well-sourced. like yes! crinolines could be and were dangerous! however what else contributed to those dangers? is the author a complete fool and not only implying that all women did housework in the most height-of-fashion crinolines, but also not engaging with the realities of the past like, indeed, how common flames were? I never finished that assignment because I got too sick to do much of anything. oh well

[@pippaseaspirit4415]

How to keep the heating bill down: make some brushed cotton shifts! I wouldn’t want to be wearing a crinoline (and, of course, Victorian drawers!) while hang-gliding over a crowd.

[@sineperil]

When I did 1860s living history, the number 1 question was, "Isn't that a fire hazard?" Yes. Yes, it was. That is why the museum won't let us have open flames or put lit candles on the Christmas tree.😂

[@esmeralda3858]

Punch magazine regularly satirised the crinoline. However, it had no effect on the crinoline's popularity. It didn't go out of fashion until Empress Eugenie stopped wearing it and introduced the bustle.

[@calliem4240]

I would not want to wear crinolines or really any large skirts while candle dipping. Which I do in 1810s fashion though not high fashion. I wear cotton and linen while doing so and am working on a wool apron. I do this outside over open flames.

[@Turquerina]

I think crinolines are very fun to wear but I would want to risk damaging them (and thus the dress) in crampled spaces like narrow alleyways or halls, or even in places where physically altercations may be commen. They just wouldn't be worth the risk in those scenarios. Anyways, aye to the smuggling video because that sounds a lot like fun!

[@sarahwatts7152]

I like these "yes, but" videos. A kernel of truth may or may not lead to a whole ear of corn

[@sannabengtsson3044]

Yes var kommer smuggling Close ifrån❤🧐

[@jamesav001]

Surely instead of spectating about how common these incidents were based on press articles, other historical sources such as coroners reports and death records could be examined?

[@AmandaKing-w8c]

I live in FL, so i feel like I'd probably cook in those skirts even without a fire.

[@feliciasjoberg9886]

Recommend Abby Cox's video about Oscar Wilde's sisters and the crinoline fire

[@RebelLeigh]

We need the smuggling video in our lives. PLEASE 🙏

[@laurahoffman5261]

Oscar Wilde's two half sisters died from their dresses catching fire in 1871.

[@karengrohs4942]

I also find showers make me very cold. Baths don't. I highly recommend them.

[@rodentary]

I have dollarstore vines above the mirror that start between the lights. Then i have pictures of nature.

[@lynn858]

Coveralls worn by labourers aren't just for keeping your clothes clean, and your bum from showing... They're cotton and less flammable than most contemporary clothing. Having melted a t-shirt to myself by accidentally touching a recently welded pipe to my clothing, after having been diligently careful about the flame and sparks... haven't forgotten how yuck that was and its been a decade.

[@DahVoozel]

"Babe! There's a new snappydragon! It's about clothes catching on fire! Nope, It isn't even about Rayon!"

[@samtyers8236]

candles and crinolines wouldn't be a good idea

[@nikkipackham2234]

Hi great to see you videos again you haven’t been coming up in my feed for months… annoying!

[@Kat-pw8fo]

Didn't Oscar Wilde's half sisters die from their skirts catching on fire?

[@katecapek3116]

I vote for the smuggling video.

[@gibberishname]

hope you're having a good Hanukkah. Chag Sameach!

[@iupooiresa]

Yes please smuggling video!

[@mbuhtz]

Smuggling video yes please!

[@teresagabriela5806]

Happy Hanukah.