Fad that sets teeth on edge
QUESTION What are considered to be the worst fashion trends of all time?
There are a host of grim modern fashion trends. My top ten worst are: Sagging jeans — the ones that display the logo of the wearer’s underwear.
ear gauging, where people unnaturally expand the hole created by a piercing. Facial tattoos or piercings.
rappers wearing jewellery over their teeth, known as grills, fronts and golds. Men’s skinny jeans — ugh!
The three worst hairstyles are the mullet, the rat’s tail and the man bun.
heroin chic: pale skin, dishevelled clothing, dark circles under the eyes, a very thin frame and dark red lipstick. This fetishisation of extreme skinniness has caused untold harm to a generation of young girls.
The modern trend for cosmetic surgery, inflated trout pouts and bottom fillers.
Not quite making the grade were MC hammer pants, the jumpsuit, patterned leggings, sleeveless T-shirts, velour tracksuits, sweaters draped around shoulders and baseball caps worn sideways.
Finally, how many animals have been killed or kept in horrendous conditions to satisfy the demand for fur as a fashion accessory?
Janette Mason, London N9. A NuMber of 19th century fashion trends were downright dangerous, the use of lead and arsenic in cosmetics to whiten the complexion being just one example.
Corsets were an integral part of women’s clothing from the 16th century until early in the 19th.
Metal eyelets for corset lacing were introduced in France in 1828. This technical innovation allowed the waist to be tightly constricted, sometimes to as little as 17 in, creating a fashionable hour-glass figure. Women were often laced so tightly their breathing was restricted, leading to faintness.
Compressing the abdominal organs causes poor digestion and over time the back muscles atrophy. Long-term tight lacing leads to lung injury and the ribcage becoming deformed.
Another lethal garment was the crinoline. Invented by r. C. Milliet and introduced in the summer of 1856, this Victorian style of dress is believed to have killed 3,000 women.
The most famous victims were emily and Mary Wilde, the illegitimate daughters of the physician William Wilde (the father of Oscar Wilde), who died in 1871 after a halloween party at which their swirling skirts caught fire.
Matthew Whiteman, Chester, Cheshire. The worst fashion trend would have to be the topless dresses of the Sixties. Thankfully, this fashion didn’t last long. Only exhibitionists with fabulous figures would wear them, and they quickly got bored with getting leered at or laughed at.
Anne Garside, Stanwick, Northants. I’d NOMINATE Oxford bags: flared, high-waisted, baggy trousers fashionable in the mid-Seventies.
They were so long they covered the wearer’s high, clumpy platform shoes, and were worn by men and women alike.
Brenda Spray, Romford, Havering.
QUESTION Was Mozart the best-selling artist of 2016, beating Ed Sheeran, Beyonce and Adele?
MOZART had a high number of Cd sales in 2016, but there was a specific reason for this.
universal Music Group released Mozart 225: The New Complete edition on its decca label. This boxed set of the entire catalogue of the composer’s work was launched on October 28 to mark the 225th anniversary of Mozart’s death.
universal described it as the ‘most authoritative, complete and scholarly box set ever devoted to the work of a single composer’. Just five weeks later, it was reported that Mozart had sold 1.25 million Cds.
The catch was that each box set contained 200 Cds, so in reality universal had sold only 6,250 box sets.
Mozart wasn’t the best-selling artist of 2016. by May 2016, the rapper drake had shifted more than 1.3 million albums, a figure that combined the sales of Cds, vinyl and digital copies.
This does not include digital streaming for which drake dominated the charts over much of the year, with 50 million listeners per month.
Dr M. Shaw, Bath, Somerset.
QUESTION What modern firearms would the finest 16th-century steel cuirass armour be able to deflect?
CUIRASS armour, which covers the torso, was made from a light, strong steel, tempered for malleability, to resist the blows from 16th century weapons — swords, axes, lances and other blunt instruments.
A full suit of armour for those who could afford it was made from 16 gauge steel (1.5 mm thick).
An indication of a person’s standing was how finely and ornately their armour was engraved.
The 16th century saw the introduction of wheellock and flintlock muskets. These weapons with heavy charges of black powder and solid lead ball could penetrate steel armour at considerable distances.
even a 9 mm pistol round, one of the lowest velocity rounds in modern firearms, creates a muzzle velocity of 1,200 ft per second. This could penetrate armour if the firer were within a 150 ft range.
A 12-bore shotgun loaded with a game charge (180 small pellets) probably could not penetrate a suit of armour as the pellets lose velocity over short ranges.
during World War I, steel plate body armour was tested against calibres of the time.
It was rejected after it was found that it would have to be at least half an inch thick to stop penetration, making it too heavy to wear, and the high impact would have knocked the wearer unconscious.
John Atkins, Greatstone, Kent.
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