Over the course of the nineteenth century, ostrich feathers transitioned from being a status symbol of the affluent, to an affordable accessory for lower class women. This was, in part, due to Britain’s exclusive trading relationship with ostrich farms in South Africa. Ostrich feathers also benefitted from being one of the few specimens that could be plucked from the tail of the living bird without harming it, which meant that they became the favoured choice of fashionable women engaged in the anti-plumage lobby. Dyeing, enlarging, and combining ostrich feathers was a sizeable industry, employing high numbers of underpaid workers in London, Paris and New York.