The green dyes, like Scheele's green and Paris green, used in Victorian dressmaking, contained high amounts of arsenic! The dresses were literally deadly. Scheele's green was the most fashionable colour for the Victorian elite. Unfortunately the dye combined copper and arsenic and resulted in skin cancer, killing hundreds of textile workers. Did someone say those Even relationships with your clothing can be toxic. Scheele's Green is a yellowish green pigment invented in 1775 and made from sodium carbonate and arsenious oxideAKA, arsenic green. We were so Rate the Dress (well, actually it's a pelisse) The Dreamstress