My research question for Extended Essay is based on novel ‘Twenties Girls’ by Sophie Kinsella.
Sophie Kinsella, or her real name, Madeleine Wickham had her first novel, entitled ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’ which made a phenomenon when Disney decided to make a movie based on the novel. The novel’s heroine, Becky Bloomwood caught the attention of the readers when the novel brought the readers into a shopping-based world. The crises that she needs to face are the hilarious moments in the novel and the story of Becky continues in the sequels which are ‘Shopaholic Abroad’, ‘Shopaholic Ties the Knot’, ‘Shopaholic & Sister’ and ‘Shopaholic & Baby’.
Sophie Kinsella had written four standalone novels which are ‘Can You Keep a Secret?’, ‘The Undomestic Goddess’, ‘Remember Me?’ and ‘Twenties Girl’ and six others under her real name which are ‘The Tennis Party’, ‘A Desirable Residence’, ‘Swimming Pool Sunday’, ‘The Gatecrasher’, ‘The Wedding Girl’, ‘Cocktails for Three’ and ‘Sleeping Arrangements’ (Random House Inc., n.d.).
‘Twenties Girls’ shows how the main character of this novel, Lara Lington adapts with the existence of her great aunt’s ghost, Sadie. Sadie died at the age of 105 and appeared in Lara’s life in her 20-year-old form. As Lara was the only one who can see her, she asked for Lara’s help to find her long lost dragonfly necklace. This has caused Lara to be indulged in Sadie’s previous life. As the time went by, Lara got to know more about the life of the people in 1920s and how fashion has really influenced the society, especially the teenagers at that time.
This has led me to my research question, ‘1920s fashion influenced culture and lifestyle of society in London as portrayed by Sophie Kinsella in her novel, Twenties...
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...tury women’s clothing. (2 May, 2007). Retrieved from Random History: http://www.randomhistory.com/1-50/003clothing.html
The history of the 1920's Charleston dance. (n.d.). Retrieved from Charleston Challenge Down Under: http://www.charlestonchallengedownunder.com.au/history/
The history of the flapper, part 2: Makeup makes a bold entrance. (7 February, 2013). Retrieved from Smithsonian.com: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/threaded/2013/02/the-flapper-era-part-2-makeup-makes-a-bold-entrance/
The University of Adelaide. (12 August, 2013). The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Retrieved from eBooks@Adelaide: http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/f/fitzgerald/f_scott/gatsby/index.html
Uku, A. (2 April, 2010). A timeline of beauty defined through the ages. Retrieved from The Fashion Spot: http://www.thefashionspot.com/beauty/82016-a-timeline-of-beauty-defined-through-the-ages/
McCutcheon, Marc. "Clothing and Fashions." The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life from Prohibition Through World War II. Cincinnati: Writer's Digest, 1995. 161-67. Print.
The prologue starts with the description about a girl who likes swimming, SpongeBob, Mexican food, writing poetry and getting her nails painted. To a normal person this sounds like a normal description for a little girl but normal is not the adjective to describe this girl because this little girl has been trafficked (or prostituted) by her 29 year old pimp on Craiglist to adult men. When I read this I automatically felt like someone took a pin and pricked to my chest because I remember being eleven and enjoying getting my nails painted and Mexican food. I was a normal, happy little girl but that same could not said for the girl mentioned above.
Views on the modest vs. flapper style were very different. In Cleve’s article, it explains how the Flappers focus their style around dating and being attractive whereas the modest women would wear very conservative clothes or what the men wanted. The Flapper was seen that it could hurt a woman’s reputation to be dressed in that way but it was also seen as a stand for women’s rights to achieve self-fulfillment. During the modest era women had little to no rights and did whatever the man told her and would run the house. The media was all over the change in society and came out saying how the style was more comfortable compared to the cumbersome and restrictive style before (8). An anonymous person states this about the change in the past, “revealing clothing and visible cosmetics worn by young women were the cause, or at least a consequence, of this new conception of female sexuality” (qtd. in Cleve 2). Another anonymous person states, “They feel that beauty is not incompatible with modesty…” (qtd. in Cleve 1). Flappers believed that they were not seen as pretty when dressing restrictive and they finally wanted to dress for themselves. The style change was seen as a terrible thing for society back then but they would never know what kind of effect it had on the future. Modern day style has been shaped around the Flappers in a way. Nowadays women are always wearing short skirts or somewhat revealing clothing. Women are wearing cosmetics and everyone has a different hairstyle. For the long decade of a different look on style it has completely changed how women are dressed in modern day. In the end, women during 1920s would make a huge impact on style in the
The fashion in the 20’s were also called the flapper era, Women’s fashions in the early 1920's experienced powerful changes
The era of I love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver and Father knows Best, brought about a time where family values were necessary, family life was wonderful and no one was worrying about politics and the Cold War. These families had the molds of women constrained in the home, men bringing home the bacon and all in the homes of white middle class families. Women in the 1950s were often depicted as dependent on men and were encouraged to get married young. (Bloom and Breines, 6) It took large media input from movie stars like Marilyn Monroe, to influence many women to join the workforce and reject the “traditional feminine roles”. (Bloom and Breines 6) This mold would be challenged by the introduction of the Birth Control pill in 1954 and the growing unhappiness of women who would seek to break the walls that trapped their mothers. (Bloom and Breines, 5) More women would venture out of the homes and into the workplace between the two decades, “from 25 percent in 1950to 32 percent in 1960”. (Bloom and Breines, 5) The introduction of the Birth Control pill allowed for women to avoid unwanted pregnancies or even marriages and encouraged the sexual liberation that would be seen in the sixties.
Bruccoli, Matthew J. Preface. The Great Gatsby. By F. Scott Fitzgerald. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. vii-xvi.
This new sense of equality and freedom manifested itself through what might be termed as “unladylike things”. The introduction of birth control in the last decade empowered women to take control of their own body as well. The Flapper became more open to experiment with sexual behaviors than previous generations. Sigmund Freud, a modern-day psychoanalyst, claimed that this sudden expr...
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner, 1996. Print
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print. The.
Trask, David F. "A Note on Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby." University Review 33.3 (Mar. 1967): 197-202. Rpt. in Novels for Students. Ed. Diane Telgen. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 15 Jan. 2014.
Freeman S. (2004). In Style: Femininity and Fashion since the Victorian Era. Journal of Women's History; 16(4): 191–206
“Girls wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it is okay to be a boy; for a girl it is like promotion. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, according to you, because secretly you believe that being a girl is degrading” (McEwan 55-56). Throughout the history of literature women have been viewed as inferior to men, but as time has progressed the idealistic views of how women perceive themselves has changed. In earlier literature women took the role of being the “housewife” or the household caretaker for the family while the men provided for the family. Women were hardly mentioned in the workforce and always held a spot under their husband’s wing. Women were viewed as a calm and caring character in many stories, poems, and novels in the early time period of literature. During the early time period of literature, women who opposed the common role were often times put to shame or viewed as rebels. As literature progresses through the decades and centuries, very little, but noticeable change begins to appear in perspective to the common role of women. Women were more often seen as a main character in a story setting as the literary period advanced. Around the nineteenth century women were beginning to break away from the social norms of society. Society had created a subservient role for women, which did not allow women to stand up for what they believe in. As the role of women in literature evolves, so does their views on the workforce environment and their own independence. Throughout the history of the world, British, and American literature, women have evolved to become more independent, self-reliant, and have learned to emphasize their self-worth.
As the century changed, so did the fashion world. The 1900’s was a huge decade for growth in both the fashion industry and everyday fashion. Before the twentieth century, only those in the upper class could afford to be fashionable. Everybody else wore what was called “costume,” a more plain, practical, and made-at-home kind of dress (Fashion Encyclopedia). This century, though, brought with it the widespread use of magazines, which showed all of the public what was considered to be “in ...
Fashion has been around ever since ancient times, since the time of the Romans, it survived the world wars and is yet today a business with rapid changes. Fashion started off as an art form, a way for the rich to show their social status with unique and innovative designs that only they could afford. It was a way to separate the social classes of the society. In this paper I will include the creators of haute couture, and how the following designers developed couture, as well as leading names in today’s ready-to-wear industry. The list is long, but I chose to focus on the three most important designers in the modern fashion industry.
Whitley, Peggy. "American Cultural History - The Twentieth Century: 1910 - 1919."American Cultural History. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Jan. 2014. .