A closer look
A theatrical mastermind accidentally invented modern lighting design by violently thrashing around in miles of silk. In the 1890s, Loie Fuller became a sensation with her Serpentine Dance, which involved her manipulating massive, billowing silk garments attached to long bamboo wands. But the real magic was her technical genius. She patented chemical compounds for colored gels and rigged multi-directional stage lights to illuminate her flowing fabric from below, making her look like a shifting flame or a blossoming flower. She even casually experimented with highly radioactive radium to make her costumes glow in the dark.
