The 1920s were very much a response to the end of the Great War. The zeitgeist involved living life to the fullest -partying late and breaking the rules, a reaction to the short lives of many in the 1910s. A thirst for modernity and separation from past generations is evident across artistic disciplines, including fashion. The aesthetic is one of frivolity and freedom with an undercurrent of sadness. Perhaps, A very literal representation of the people’s sentiment after seeing the end of the first world war. Around the world, women earned the right to vote and continued working, allowing them to make choices that had not been available to previous generations.
Jazz
It’s impossible to talk about the 1920s without mentioning the influence of Jazz. Music has a long history of influencing fashion, particularly evident in the 1920s. Evolving out of Ragtime Jazz was boisterous dance-oriented music; The dance that accompanied it was The Charleston. Shorter hemlines would have been necessary for the vigorous dance, which might have begun the trend. New technologies like radios and phonographs allowed this music to become a global sensation affecting fashion and culture worldwide.
Bare in mind, that this was also the Prohibition era, and with all that dancing and frivolity, it’s safe to assume that more than a few Jazz clubs were also speakeasies. This association for being outside the law, seems to follow African American music throughout modern history. How does society keep overlooking that most people like to drink when they are dancing?
Art Deco
Art Deco evolved out of the Bauhaus principle of timeless modernity and function over style and was a response to the decline in popularity of the now-dated Art Nouveau. Whereas Art Nouveau was all about curving lines, Art Deco was all about straight, clean lines and geometry and explored the themes of ‘Modernity,’ ‘Technology,’ and ‘Luxury & Leisure.’
Modernism
More streamlined than Art Deco it brought art and function together. Explored in combination with the Art & Crafts Movement at a German fine arts school called Bauhaus. Bauhaus would be and continues to be a source of inspiration for many art forms.
Egyptomania
In 1922 Tutankhamun’s tomb was found, sparking an Egyptian revival across art, fashion and architecture. The world was captivated by Egyptian motifs, and designers used them within their designs.
Silhouette
After WW1, the ideal female image changed dramatically, including the silhouette. Previous decades had emphasized the feminine, curvy shape. The new post-war woman was defined by modernity, so the curvy silhouette was rejected as old-fashioned. The new ideal woman was short and squat, not skinny like the corseted woman of the past. Structure was utterly thrown out the window, and shift or sheath dresses hung down from the shoulders. Flat chests were de rigour, and women wore feather-light brassieres or a bandeau if flattening and support were needed. Most notably, arms were often entirely bare, and legs were on display for the first time in modern western history. Hemlines raised to the midcalf or below the knee; only the daring flappers would wear hemlines above the knee. Hair also changed in this era, namely it all being cut off into bobs. It began with women cutting their hair to keep it out of the way while working in factories, but continued when Hollywood glamourized the look with stars like Louise Brooks and Clara Bow. Image: Fashion Illustration Gazette du Bon Ton, 1923.
Cloche Hats
A new component of the 1920s silhouette was of cloche hats. Everyone wore them. They were a rejection of the large ostentatious hats of previous decades and gave the wearer the appearance of having a tiny head.
Image: University Students wearing cloche hats. 1920s. NPR.
Surface Design
For all the simplicity of the 1920s silhouette, surface design was elaborate. Dresses were decorated using a variety of elements such as sequins, ruffles, bows, leather and fur.
Undergarments
As tiny waists fell out of fashion, so did corsets. They were replaced by girdles or stays which helped with the column silhouette but restricted the freedom of movement that the new styles represented. Image: Girdle 1920s. The MET
As women were trying to hide their curves, they were no longer wearing the bust enhancers of the past decade. Instead, small busted women wore delicate brassieres, and full busted women wore bandeaus or strips of clothes to bind their breasts. Image : Brassiere 1920s. The MET
Flappers
The term flapper is widely thought to come from the shoes that rebellious girls wore, that were left unlaThe term flapper is widely thought to come from the shoes that rebellious girls wore that were left The term flapper is widely thought to come from the shoes that rebellious girls wore that were left unlaced and had the tongue flapping out, but the term initially started in the 1890s and comes from the idea of baby birds flapping around when their parents push them out of the nest. Though the flapper style is what we think of when we imagine the 1920s, not everyone was a flapper. They were girls who embraced a new lifestyle that others found outrageous. They were rebellious young women who eschewed the rules, like smoking cigarettes in public, drinking alcohol and wearing skirts with hemlines above the knee. Of course, they also threw away the past generation’s corsets.
“It” Girl : Clara Bow
A silent film actress known for her depiction of the perfect Flapper. She played cheaky bad girls and was considered the ideal female image of the time.
As is evident on Ms. Bow, the 20s was a significant time for cosmetics. Eyebrows were pencil thin and sloped downwards to the temples. Eye makeup was dark and sloped, making eyes look tired as if one had been up partying all night. Lips were painted tiny round -A Cupid’s Bow or Bee Sting. The cosmetics industry exploded during this era.
Image: Clara Bow, 1927. Michael Ochs Archives
Designer of Note: Coco Chanel
Chanel revolutionized clothing for women by making stylish outfits out of knit jersey for the everyday modern working woman of the 1920s. Her clothing allowed movement and room to breathe. She also popularized the decade’s most worn accessory, a string of pearls. She was particularly intelligent in that she responded to the needs of the time rather than just designing for decoration.
Image: Gabrielle Chanel in 1926
Thoughts
It seems that people in the 1920s were trying desperately to forget the horrors of WW1. Perhaps they longer wanted to be associated with the old because if they were a new type of society, that kind of horror wouldn’t repeat itself. It is interesting to think that there would have been far more women than men left after the war. A fact that may have influenced the skin on display and the sudden widespread acceptance of cosmetics, it would have been a very competitive time to find a husband. So as women were earning their freedoms, they were probably also desperately motivated by the need to find a husband. Which may have supported the desire to use cosmetics, put flesh on display and be decorated with sparkles and fringe. We see this evolution of feminism run parallel with society’s need for women to be sexy throughout history until today.