In the decade between the Great War and the Great Depression, the world was exuberant and vibrant. This energy was represented in the increasingly popular upbeat jazz music. The style, fashion, and dance of this period changed with the beat of the music.
FLAPPERS
A flapper is defined as a young woman, especially one who, during the 1920s, behaved and dressed in a boldly unconventional manner. During this first truly modern decade, a "new woman" was created. This new woman of the 1920s "puffed cigarettes, snuck gin, hiked her hemlines, danced the Charleston, necked in roadsters, ... earned her own keep, controlled her own destiny, and secured liberties that modern women take for granted."(Zeitz, 2006) These women desired for a new style that freed them from the previously fashionable tight corsets. Flappers could be recognized by their short skirts, bobbed hair, taste for jazz, and distain for behavior then considered socially acceptable. Flappers were independent women who encapsulated a time of cutting lose and having fun.
MUSIC & DANCE
By the 1920s, jazz had become popular worldwide. It was played in the dance halls and roadhouses across the country. During it's early years, it was considered to be devil's music by some of the American public, which only caused the rebellious flappers to enjoy it more. Public dance halls, clubs and tea rooms opened in most cities. Changes in women's fashion somewhat stemmed from the popular upbeat jazz music that had become poplar during this time. The energetic dances of the Jazz Age required women's clothing to have the capacity to move freely. This new woman of the 1920s slipped into the popular shapeless, short dress and danced the night away.
FASHION: COCO CHANEL
Coco Chanel was a French orphan, who completely redefined the feminine form and silhouette. Her iconic fashion freed women from the torturous corsets. She instigated a look called "garconne" ("little boy"). The waist of dresses were dropped to the hipline to look more like a boy. This look showed the rebellious personality of the flapper and allowed them to move freely and enjoy dancing to the jazz music being played across the nations. Even today, this style is still extremely recognizable.
Written by: Kelsey Allen
WORK CITED
- Zeitz, Joshua. Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2006.
- Gourley, Catherine. Flappers and the New American Woman: Perceptions of Women from 1918 Through the 1920s. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2008.
