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Changes in fashion during the roaring twenties
Fashion of the 1920s research essay
Women's fashions of the 1920s
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After The WW1 The Term Flapper Came To Be. A Flapper Was A Term That Came To Be In The 1920ś It Referred To Fashionable Young Women That Enjoyed Themselves And had A Different Behavior. These Women Often Wore Short, Tight Dresses That Went To The Knee. They Also Went From Having Long Nice Hair To Having A Bobbed Look Which Was Short Hair.
(Price 1) this showed the growth during the time of technology and how much people loved this new technology. The new fashion trends also made the 1920s roar. “Women wore flappers which gave a new look and attitude they also wore knee length dresses with no
Flappers defined as certain type of women in the United States in the 1920's, also known for their unconventional style and behavior. They are the symbol of roaring twenties. “The flappers moved away from the long dress and the corset of the years before and embraced shorter brighter dresses. They cut there hair and took a bob cut over long flowing
1. The two characteristic that can be identified as flapper characteristic in source one, is that younger women after the first war who became flappers wore shorter shapeless dress’s which gave them more freedom and movement. Another characteristic is that they wore make-up and drank alcohol. 2.
Women were now being called Flappers because of their short clothing, stylish black bobs, wearing heavy make-up, dancing, drinking, and smoking. “In 1890’s Britain, in fact,“flapper” described a very young prostitute, and after the turn of the century, it was used on both sides of the Atlantic for cheeky, prepubescent girls whose long braids, the New York Time reported, “flapped in the wind” (“The original “It Girl”, Web.b.ebscohost.com). This quote proves “Flappers” had a bad connotation, but then the word evolved across the world into showing freedom from a restricted lifestyle. “It was a form of youth rebellion, a project of liberation, and it didn’t go unnoticed.” (“How Flappers Rebelled Through Feminism And Consumerism”, bi.edu).
Flappers also wore short skirts and dresses, which were considered scandalous and inappropriate for women then. The hemlines of their skirts rose above the knee, which was a shocking departure from the ankle-length skirts that had been popular in previous decades (Pruitt). Flappers often went without stockings or undergarments, further emphasizing their new sense of freedom and independence (Onion, et al.). Another notable aspect of the appearance of flappers was their bold makeup. They wore bright red lipstick, which was seen as vulgar and inappropriate for women, and they used heavy eye makeup to create a dramatic look (Spivack).
(Hatton 2) Women in this era, were a far image from previous women. They turned the 1920s into a model of modern women hood by dominating the american cultural scenes. The flapper look was very different than what the women previously of the 1920s wore. Physically the women had bobbed hair, noticeable makeup, and flashy lipstick.
However not every woman enjoyed the flappers way of life. Many were not even able to afford the new clothes. Some didn’t even get the time to be able to go and enjoy time like a flapper would. So, young rich women were able to benefit from life as a flapper as shown in source 6 referring to how a flapper dressed.. However, the elderly and many religious people went against these changes.
Flappers Picture yourself one day walking outside and seeing someone dressed nearly naked. This was what flappers were like in the 1920’s. With World War I over and many love ones lost women started to change their lifestyles a bit. Flappers would wear short skirts, cut their hair very short, apply lots of makeup, and reveal lots of skin. Before this era women would wear long dresses that touched the ground, even the glimpse of someone’s ankle was considered to be racy, they wore big hats, and their sleeves would go to their wrists.
The new fashions were called the flapper style and were worn above the knee and were adorned by beads and jewelry (document 4). The 1920s changed women's fashion for the better by allowing for more freedom in what they could wear. As for the flapper style, there was the idea that the modern woman was wearing this
"With this came drinking, smoking, dancing, and sexual experimentation. Flappers were counterculture — much like punk rockers were in the ’80s or the Bohemian culture of the late 1800s — and they liberated themselves from how society perceived women as a whole." ( Michelle Jaqua). The assumption that all flappers had money and were rich was far from the truth, there were lots of flappers who weren’t rich for example women had female artistry jobs, or were superior office girls, or apprentice writers. The working woman was much more likely to rebel against the previous norms that were present during the Roaring Twenties "these women worked and had money they wanted to spend.
The term flapper originated in Great Britain, where there was a short fad among young women to wear rubber galoshes (an overshoe worn in the rain or snow) left open to flap when they walked. The name stuck, and throughout the United States and Europe flapper was the name given to liberated young women. The 1920s were an age of dramatic social and political change. The nation's total wealth more than doubled between 1920 and 1929, and this economic growth swept many Americans into a prosperous but unfamiliar “consumer society.” Flappers were a generation of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior.
It became the symbol for the youth movement. Women would wear these to speakies, and show case their figure. The fashion of this time was totally rejecting the Victorian women. The flappers didn’t follow modern society, and were open about their sexuality. Margaret Sanders stood up for reproductive rights.
The free-spirited Flappers flouted convention, cut their hair, listened to jazz and scandalized the older generation. The independent, exuberant and unconventional attitudes of the Flappers challenged the traditional ideas by wearing short skirts, bobbed hairstyles, makeup and cosmetics. Flappers began drinking and smoking in public and became sexually liberated during the 1920's. Most women in the 1920s, not just the young Flappers, abandoned traditional, restrictive women's clothes, such as long dresses and tight corsets, to free themselves of the shackles of the Victorian era. The long hair, traditionally worn by women, was cut into a 'Bob'.
In this aspect, the 1920s were one of the most influential decades in U.S. history because of the introduction of the "New Women". "New Women," or flappers, were young women who embraced the new ideas, freedoms, and modernism of the Roaring Twenties. Flappers wore new and popular clothing from the era. Their signature look was short "bob" hair, which represented their independence to men. A majority of flappers were women's suffrage activist.