After women fought for their right to vote and Congress passed the19th Amendment of the Constitution, women believed they were capable of doing anything. Before the 1920s, women were considered lower than men, treated poorly, and didn’t have equal opportunities. Women were not given the same opportunities as men because it was believed that women could not tolerate as much work as a man. Women were not educated and therefore didn’t have jobs. They were housewives who cooked, cleaned, and took care of their children. Women also weren’t able to display their body, for example skirts were worn down to their ankles. Revolutionary fashions during the 1920s made it acceptable for women to separate themselves from unrevealing and unflattering styles. Miss America and Flappers helped the world reconsider the part that women play in society. A door of opportunity opened for women in careers, sports, and even education. As a result women were able to desert the constrained fashions and get involved in male controlled jobs and sports.
Revolutionary fashions made it acceptable to show more skin, develop different styles, and able for women to express themselves. Women began to liberate themselves from the traditional long hairstyles and turn to the new and short masculine hairdos. “The bob appeared in the US shortly…Women with bobs needed more frequent haircuts, and wanted permanent waves” (Monet). Women began to cut their hair shorter, cringing their hair, and finger waving it. Although many women saw it as outrageous and boyish, many people today have cut their hair the same way and even shorter. It wasn’t permissible for a woman to display her body. Skirts were to be covering their legs all the way down to their ankles. If the skirt d...
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Latham, Angela J.. Posing a threat: flappers, chorus girls, and other brazen performers of the American 1920s. Hanover, NH: Published by University Press of New England [for] Wesleyan University Press, 2000. Print.
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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
In the 1920s, a new woman was born. She smoked, drank, danced, and voted. She cut her hair, wore make-up, and went to petting parties. She was giddy and took risks. She was a flapper.
The fashion of the 1920’s varied in style, color, and material in comparison to the modern day fashion we have today. The 1920’s, also known as the Roaring Twenties, was a time period where people went against traditions and tried different styles and ideas. Fur coats, bow pumps, tailored suits, and wool sweaters are just a small portion of what people wore in the 1920’s. However, fashion from the 1920’s can be divided into more complex branches such as social class, sports events, and occupations.
Flappers were not only young women with good looks, they had an agenda behind their risky and flamboyant lifestyle. While good looks was not necessary, most women that identified as a flapper were considered very beautiful. Speakeasies became more popular as cabarets and saloons, where flappers usually performed and hung out. As the popularity of speakeasies emerged, jazz music started to boom throughout the United States. By 1925, jazz markets increased and jazz music filled the streets of every major city in the United States (Mowry) . Part ...
“They were smart and sophisticated, with an air of independence about them, and so casual about their looks and clothes and manners as to be almost slapdash. I don't know if I realized as soon as I began seeing them that they represented the wave of the future, but I do know I was drawn to them. I shared their restlessness, understood their determination to free themselves of the Victorian shackles of the pre-World War I era and find out for themselves what life was all about.” Colleen Moore captured the essence of women in the 1920’s astonishingly. Many women found life tedious, dull, and boring, so they decided to make a change. These women were generally known as “flappers.” Flappers were young women who flouted the everyday standards of women. With their new style, behavior, and political views, it was clear that this was the new age of women.
"1920s Style Clothing & Dresses, Flapper Fashion | Unique Vintage." 1920s Style Clothing & Dresses, Flapper Fashion | Unique Vintage. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2014.
During the Roaring Twenties, women changed their actions. The 1920s was an explosion of color and a period of escapism. The young women began to set themselves free. The changing role of women was a result from all the work they did during World War I. The younger generation rejected values and customs of their parents’ generation. The young women no longer wanted to be the guardians of morality, dressing in a modest way and refraining from drinking, dancing, and smoking. They wanted to have the freedom to wear short skirts and ride in cars with their boyfriends. Because of all the deaths of World War I, the new generation felt the need to live freely and enjoy life. Young women and men who returned from the war experienced cultures with different customs and standards.
During World War I, many men were drafted away from their families to fight for America. The men left an excess of jobs available for women to take. These jobs were not just an option but also a necessary responsibility to support their family, while their husbands were at war. In the absence of many men, women wore shorter skirts for functionality, learned to drive cars, and cut their hair. It is believed that because of the shortage of qualified men, women became more aggressive towards them, demonstrating behavior of a “Flapper” ("Flappers." Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion”) World War 1 gave women a taste of what it was like to earn a living outside of the house and they liked the independence. When the men came back from the war, women were not so eager to give it up. Also, the war had wiped out a number of males, not only leaving more jobs available for women, but also leaving wives and...
After World War One the life style in America changed, this time was known as the Roaring Twenties. During the Roaring Twenties women evolved, in this time it became more acceptable for them to smoke and drink in public. Women had closer body contact while dancing and they had a much greater participation in the workforce. In the twenties there was a group of young women that became known as flappers. They wore shorter dresses with a straight loose silhouette (Scott). The title flapper also proclaimed the freedom of young women. These women were more rebellious; they smoked cigarettes and drank in public. Smoking and drinking were only just a few of the rebellious things women would do during this time. Flappers rejected moral value and the rules of the Victoria Age. During the Roaring Twenties washing machines, vacuums, and canned food made women’s lives easier. Women also gained careers from many different professions, unlike ever before (Howard; Ellis 522-24).
The roaring twenties was often recognized as the era of the flappers. Trendy women were often referred to as a “flapper”. The flapper “became the image that represented the tremendous change in women's lives and attitudes during the 1920s”. This term, flapper, was originated in Great Britain and then ended up becoming a pervasive term around Europe and North America. These women were often young and described as “confident, bold, sexy” females. They tried new diets to achieve a thinness, because “new fashions required slim figures, flat chests, and slim hips.”
Women during the 1920's lifestyle, fashion, and morals were very different than women before the 1920's. Flappers became the new big thing after the 19th amendment was passed. Women's morals were loosened, clothing and haircuts got shorter, and fashion had a huge role in these young women.
At the beginning of the 20th century it was a moment when the U.S was starting to become more powerful than other countries and that’s when an exposure of multiple fashion began to occur in the 1900s. Fashion such as: corsets in which incudes a variety of corsets created throughout the Era, lingerie dresses, hobble skirts, over/under skirts, V-necks, flappers,