15 Bizarre Fashion Trends You Won't Believe Once Existed

3. Foot-Binding

Reign: 10th - 20th Century (China) Foot binding or "Lotus feet" is the practice of wrapping one's feet continuously and as tightly as possible, until the feet are basically small from deformity. It's long been believed in China that the smaller your feet are, the more beautiful are and the higher your social status was. Nobody knows the true origin of foot binding, but many have tried to ban the act throughout the centuries, but to no avail. Women were being abused and as a result of their deformed feet, couldn't run away. It was only in the early years of the 20th Century when pioneering feminist, Brigitte Kwan (also known as the first feminist of China) advocated for the end of foot-binding that the women of China decided that enough was enough.