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From green dresses tinged with arsenic to top hats filled with mercury, the fashion world has seen its fair share of deadly trends. People have often chosen style over safety, leading to tragic consequences. Yet, some of these clothing-related deaths stand out for their strangeness, rarity, or sheer unpredictability, leaving a lasting impression in our collective memory.
10. The Flammable Bathrobe
On a cold February morning in 2009, 81-year-old Evelyn Rogoff decided to have some green tea. Tragically, she would never get the chance to enjoy it. As she reached over the stove, the chenille bathrobe she was wearing brushed against the electric burner and ignited. The highly flammable fabric caused her to be quickly engulfed in flames. Her husband, Murray, rushed to her aid, but his own clothes caught fire as well. Their daughter arrived home to find both parents ablaze and quickly doused them with water to put out the fire before rushing them to the hospital.
Evelyn spent six weeks in the University of California San Diego Burn Center before succumbing to her injuries. She had suffered severe third-degree burns covering 30 percent of her body. Tragically, Murray passed away from a heart attack several months later. The manufacturer, Blair Corporation, later issued a recall on the dangerous bathrobe. The company’s robes have been linked to nine deaths across the country.
9. The High-Heel Tragedy
In 2012, a neighbor was horrified to find a young woman lying unresponsive in the stairwell of his Lower East Side walk-up in Manhattan. At first, it appeared that she had simply fallen and soiled herself, but when he rolled her over, he discovered her face covered in blood with a large gash on her neck. Upon the arrival of first responders, they identified her as Carlisle Brigham, who had been visiting a friend in the apartment. Initially, the police suspected she had been slashed due to the visible wound on her neck and the extensive blood loss.
A later autopsy concluded that her death was accidental, not a homicide. It was determined that the cause was related to her high-heeled shoes. The combination of precarious high heels and a slippery marble staircase proved fatal. She had likely tripped and tumbled down the steep stairs, causing her chin to break and the wound on her neck to open further. The medical examiner determined that her death was consistent with a fall down the staircase.
8. Killed by a Brassiere
As unbelievable as it may sound, this tragic event occurred in 2015. Christina Bond, 55, was carrying her handgun in a bra holster. Women's concealed carry options, such as purse and bra holsters, have grown increasingly popular in recent years. This particular holster attaches to the front of the bra, concealing the firearm between the breasts with a strap that connects to the holster.
Bond struggled with the fit of her bra holster. While attempting to adjust it, the gun somehow ended up facing her face as she looked down at it. The gun discharged, shooting her in the eye. She was airlifted to Kalamazoo Hospital, where she passed away the next day. Experts believe she must have either dislodged the gun from its clamshell holster or accidentally placed her finger near the trigger, making this incident even possible.
7. The Fiery Crinolines
Crinolines were a fashion craze in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A popular alternative to bulky petticoats, crinolines were cage-like garments that helped maintain the voluminous skirts of the time. While they were responsible for awkward flipping when women sat without caution, they also accounted for an estimated 3,000 deaths during their peak popularity.
Crinolines were infamous for getting caught in the wheels of carriages, with women reportedly being dragged through the streets. These garments were also believed to have been used to conceal pregnancies, allowing women to discreetly dispose of unwanted babies or those born out of wedlock without attracting suspicion.
But perhaps the most perilous feature of crinolines was their extreme flammability—at a time when fires were common in kitchens and parlors. One of the many victims of this danger was 16-year-old Emma Musson, who tragically burned to death when a coal from the kitchen fireplace rolled onto her crinoline. She was consumed by the fire. Sadly, such deaths were common during the mid-to-late 19th century.
6. Crushed Under a Pile of Clothes
In a tragic case of hoarding gone horribly wrong, three family members in Alicante, Spain, were crushed to death when the first floor of their house collapsed under the massive weight of a large accumulation of clothing in 2009. A man, his wife, and their 12-year-old daughter lost their lives in the disaster.
Reports indicate that the couple had been struggling with Diogenes Syndrome, which contributed to the massive piles of clothing. The family’s older daughter survived the collapse. She had been asleep in an upstairs room when the floor gave way. Upon waking up and discovering the disaster, she found her sister’s arm protruding from the debris and quickly alerted the authorities.
5. Buried Beneath Fans’ Clothes
Drawing another example from history, Draco, the first legislator of ancient Greece, is almost as famous for his peculiar death as he is for his achievements. Draco is credited with creating the first written laws in history, which were enforced by a court, replacing the prior system of oral law and duels to the death. He is best remembered for the notorious harshness of his laws, many of which prescribed death for minor offenses. The brutality of Draco’s legislation gave rise to the term 'draconian,' still used today to describe laws that are unusually severe or cruel.
Beyond his reputation as the original lawmaker and enforcer of extreme punishments, Draco’s death is also famous for its strange circumstances, often appearing on lists of unusual deaths. According to legend, Draco was visiting the island of Aegina, where he was being honored at a theater in Athens for his contributions. To show their gratitude, a large crowd began throwing hats, cloaks, and shirts onto his head—this was a customary way of paying tribute during that era. Ultimately, the overwhelming pile of clothing and hats suffocated Draco to death.
4. Drowned in a Wedding Dress
Maria Pantzapolous simply wanted to take some fun photos as part of the 'trash the dress' trend, which has gained popularity online. This trend involves brides deliberately ruining their expensive wedding dresses, often to capture high-fashion style images. A common way to do this is by wading or swimming in water. Pantzapolous was hoping to create similar dramatic images when she entered the water at Rawdon Falls in Quebec in August 2012.
Unaware of the deceptively strong current at Rawdon Falls, Pantzapolous asked her photographer to take photos of her as she swam in her wedding dress. The dress soon became heavy as it soaked up the water, and she was unable to manage the increasing weight. Before she knew it, the current began pulling the petite woman downstream. Despite her photographer’s attempts to rescue her, the water also began dragging him under. Eventually, she gave up fighting the current. Her body was discovered two hours later, further downstream.
3. Choked by a Clothes Horse
In one of the oddest cases in recent years, a man tragically died after being strangled by his own clothes horse. Brian Depledge, a father of two, was discovered dead in his home in 2011. It appeared that he tripped over a footstool and fell backward, with his head and neck becoming trapped between the rungs of the collapsed clothes horse. Authorities noted that in his attempts to free himself, the clothes horse only tightened around his neck. Moreover, the wet clothes on the upper rungs added extra weight, making it even harder for him to escape.
The coroner, who remarked that one is more likely to be struck by a meteorite than to meet such an unusual fate, confirmed that Depledge had fluid in his lungs consistent with death by asphyxiation. Now that’s what you’d call a deadly wardrobe!
2. Flammable Nightgown
In what has often been speculated as a case of spontaneous human combustion, the death of Mary Reeser serves as a grim reminder to be cautious when smoking indoors, and also that combining sedatives with cigarettes can be a deadly mix. Very little of her remains were found, as she was almost entirely cremated in her living room, while everything else in the room remained largely unscathed.
On a warm summer evening in July 1951, Mary Reeser from St. Petersburg, Florida, took two Seconal (a potent sedative) before settling into her armchair for the night. She then lit a cigarette. While deeply sedated, her acetone-based nightgown and robe caught fire. The only remains discovered were one of her feet, a fragment of her skull, and the springs from her chair.
Though some still speculate that she may have experienced spontaneous combustion, most experts believe her nightgown caught fire and her body fat ignited, leading to her swift incineration. The intense heat may explain why a pile of newspapers nearby remained unharmed. Even after decades, the circumstances surrounding her death remain mysterious.
1. Strangled by Scarf
Isadora Duncan was a renowned dancer and choreographer at the dawn of the 20th century. She is one of the most infamous cases of a person dying for fashion. Known for her role as the ‘mother of modern dance,’ Duncan was admired for her free-spirited nature and her rejection of puritanical norms. Her life, filled with personal tragedy, was as captivating as her career. Beyond her dancing, she was also known for her feminist, Communist views, and was openly atheist and bisexual. She lived a life full of defiance, which included her fondness for alcohol.
In 1927, while traveling in a car with a friend, Duncan’s long scarf became caught in the wheel, dragging her from the vehicle and causing her neck to snap. While deaths caused by scarves were not unheard of, Duncan’s tragic accident remains the most famous. Her death became so synonymous with her life that, over time, individuals who suffered similar fates were diagnosed with ‘long-scarf syndrome,’ also known as ‘Isadora Duncan syndrome.’
