In the 1920s, flappers were an important figure. They defined the new, modern woman of the twentieth century dominating the American cultural scene. All American women didn’t emulate to the flapper model. Women began changing their behavior, language, and fashion. They also began encouraging social freedoms for women after World War I.
The term “flapper” originated in Great Britain. It was used to describe women who wore rubber galoshes . The term began spreading from Great Britain, to the United States, and throughout Europe. In northern Europe, in the 1500s, the word “flapper” referred to a teenage girl. By 1631, it was referred to a young prostitute. When the term came to the United States, the meaning of the term changed. In the early
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1900s, “flapper” became the name of liberated young women. The first appearance of the flapper image were in films of great actresses and in writings of great novelist.
Clara Bow was one of those images. She was a film star in the film It. She wore bobbed hair, short skirts, and lipstick. Quickly, young girls began following this celebrity. Other famous young women began taking on this new trend such as Louise Brooks (film star), Dorothy Parker (author), Colleen Moore (film star), and Joan Crawford (film star) . Then, the great film The Flapper came out starring Olive Thomas. Finally, the last step to the beginning image of the flappers was F. Scott Fitzgerald. His novel set a tone for the 1920s ideal flapper to be described as “lovely, expensive, and young”.
The behavior of women was the most disapproved by American society. Women gradually stepped out of the image the society gave them. Women was housewives before World War I began, but the men went to war. This meant women had to come out of their regular routine and get a job to support their families. Women started to work in factories and other jobs that use to be “only” men
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jobs. Women also brought along social freedoms during this era. Women began smoking cigarettes, drinking liquor, and going to parties. They began attending “petting parties”, basically, to make out with men. During this era, this was a main attraction. Everything seemed new and modern and fast-paced in the 1920s. Women were finally accepted to do things men were doing. Flappers gave women the image of independence and freedom instead of sticking to the regular routine of women in America. Then social freedoms came along with a new type of language. Young women during the 20s began using “slang”. These women were associated to the beginning of the use of words including, “heebeegeebees”, wet blanket” , “junk”, “whoopee”, and “daddy” which referred to their boyfriends. Their new language reflected their feelings on marriage, dating, and drinking habits. Women were prestigious for something new and different during this era. A change of behavior, language, and appearance came with the new ideal of the flappers.
The appearance of these women was different from previous generations. Women dressed in attire too revealing. They began wearing short skirts, flesh-colored stockings, hats, jewelry, and negligible under wear. They liked their evening gowns sleeveless and flashy. They wanted to catch the attention of young boys and men. They even began wearing skirts with slits on the sides to show more skin. Flappers even began doing strange things such as, flattening their chest with tight bands of cloth to look as young and boyish as
possible. Young girls began cutting their long hair to get the short-bobbed hairstyles. The style was to give them a bold and mature image. This hairstyle was revoluted from the cartoon “Betty Boop”. They also began wearing hats, jewelry, and other accessories. They wore big hats that we refer to as sun hats or summer hats. Their jewelry was mostly beads or pearls. The began wearing excessive necklaces, bracelets, head jewelry, and earrings. Cosmetics was also used excessively during the 1920s. A Lot of older women looked at this new trend as a disgrace. Younger girls began wearing bright red lipstick,. The bold red was popular because it was described to give an image of maturity and sexiness. They also wore eyeliner and other cosmetics that older women are use to wearing. After the Great Depression, the flapper era ended. Women were devastated and trying to maintain the economic hardships. Though, the era ended, the trends did not disappear. Women still used these habits in the present. Though, majority of the new habits was bad to the society, it gave women a new independence. These trends was passed from generation to generation.
Flappers in the 1920s where the girls and women that dressed less modestly. They also disobeyed the rules that most women and girls followed. They did what others would not ever think of doing in this time period.
Like most trends, it starts by an icon and others follow their lead. The trend of flappers was started by the famous 1920s icon, Zelda Fitzgerald. Zelda was the daughter of the richest man in the South and she could get away with whatever she wanted. Zelda loved to drink, smoke, spend nights with guys, speak her mind and break society’s unwritten rules on women. American women copied her by wearing short dresses, wore make-up, dancing nontraditional, layering beads over their dresses and partied, “desperate to be as cool” as Zelda (Fabulous “Zelda Fitzgerald: The First Flapper”). The beginning of the flapper era was expectable because most American men went off to war, leaving the women to work in factories, do industrial work, and work like men, so in order for women to relax and have fun, they went to parties and dressed the way they wanted. US History states that “Many held steady jobs in the changing American economy” including “clerking jobs that blossomed…increasing phone usage required more and more operators… women were needed on the sales floor to relate to the most precious customers — other women. But the flapper was not all work and no play. By night, flappers engaged in the active city nightlife. They frequented jazz clubs and vaudeville shows. Speakeasies were a common destination, as...
The roaring twenties was a new era, WWI was over and that was cause to celebrate.As music radio and motion pictures became very popular in the early 20's, people stop taking life so seriously, "you only live once" became the anthem of the time.Everything was changing, many women started drinking smoking and wearing make up. They started rebelling against their parents and victorian standards were thrown out the window. These women were called flappers, for their short provocative skirts and actions.
Historians have debated over what the word “flapper” really meant. Some people thought the word was derived from the concept of a baby bird that is learning to fly for the first time. The word “flapper” came from the way a the baby bird flapped its wings as it flew from the nest. The women during this era were brave in the sense that they dared to step outside of boundaries that no American woman had stepped before. This change in history could be compared to a baby bird in the sense that the first jump from the nest was a symbol for the risks that women were taking during the 1920s. Furthermore, women ultimately benefitted from the popularization of flappers
Imagine walking in the streets where all other women and girls are dressed in long dresses, look modest, and have long hair with hats. Then, there is a girl with a short skirt and bobbed hair smoking a cigarette. This girl makes a statement and is critically judged by many people for dressing this way. Women during the 1920s did not look “boyish” in any way, so when short hair and short skirts were introduced, it was seen as shameful. The girls wearing this new style are known as flappers.
These women broke many rules, leading young women to rebel against their families. Some people hated the idea of the Flapper and they blamed the war for these women’s new behaviors. After World War I, young women and young girls started to act free and go against their families. “Some people in society blamed the war for triggering this rebellion of youth and they claimed it had upset the balance of the sexes and, in particular, confuse women of their role in society and where they truly belonged” (Grouley 63). Some people hated the idea of the flappers and these women had become.
Flappers were women who were characterized by their choice of bobbed hair, short skirts, and their enjoyment of jazz music. Flappers usually had bobbed hair styles, usually wore heavy make-up, loose fitted dresses and to be considered the perfect flapper they usually had a pale skin tone. The roaring 20s was a time of change in which the way society had chosen to view women. This was the beginning of the "flapper". A flapper was a woman who was extremely willing at parties with little to nothing as far as regret went. They’d tend to smoke, drink, dance, drive cars, have casual sex and usually couldn't hold onto a man. Flappers usually feigned to do everything the men would do while attending parties. While thinking of flappers, Chicago would have been a very common place to find them.
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.
In the 1920's the term flapper referred to a "new breed" of women. They wore short skirts and dresses which were straight and very loose. The arms were left bare and the waistline was dropped to the hips. By 1927 the length of the skirts had rose just below the knee which when they danced would be shown. The chests appeared to look very small and women would tape themselves to look even smaller. Bras were also sold to make them appear very small. Their hairstyles were cut very short and were known as a bob, another popular style that was later introduced was the "Eaton" or "Shingle". These styles had slicked the hair back and covered the ears with curls. Women started wearing "kiss proof" lipstick in shades of red, their eyes were ringed a dark black color, and their skin was powered to look very pale. One of the big things with the flappers were that they smoked cigarettes through long holders and drank alcohol openly in public now. They also started dating freely and danced all night long very provocatively. Jazz music was rising in population and the flappers brought it out even more. Not all women changed into becoming a flapper, yet the little numbers impacted the 1920's in a huge way.
In the 1920’s, the Nineteenth Amendment was passed, which gave women the right to vote. During this decade women became strong and more independent. Women were accomplishing a lot more than they had before. Women started going to college so she could earn her own living. More women started leaving the home and working at a factory or as a secretary. Women were discriminated at the work place. They received lower wages then man did. In the 1920’s, the term flapper was introduced. It was first used in Britain after World War 1. Young women were labeled as flappers who wore makeup shorter skirts. Fl...
woman's body. Flapper was invented to describe a so called new breed.Flapper women wore bobbed hair, short skirts, and they enjoyed listening to jazz music.Flappers also drove cars and smoked, the word flapper is another word for prostitute. Many people disapproved of flappers because they thought they showed too much. Louise Brooks was a fashion icon of the 1920’s, she often wore flappers. “Coco Chanel’s motto was ...
“Many women rebelled against the images society had painted for them” (Gourley 5). This quote was taken from Catherine Gourley, and it is an important thought to keep while researching the film Bare Knees. During the 1920s many women did rebel against what they were supposed to be, they did not want to be what society had told them too. Many women started rebelling because of World War One and the 19th amendment, and after World War One ended, a new woman emerged. The flapper became a well-known symbol for women who have gone through war and now just want to party. During the 1920s, flappers where looked down upon because of how they dressed, acted, and because they worked. Through this research paper, the main question will be to find out
The flappers strived for a boyish figure whereas today young American women value more of a curvy figure. A flapper usually had short bobbed hair to go along with their boyish figure. Some girls have shorter hair today and it is slowly becoming popular for girls to shave part of their hair. The average woman today has long hair. Straight shift dresses and shorter knee length skirts were what a flapper would often wear. Today, girls usually wear pants and if they do wear a dress then it also goes to the knee or sometimes shorter. Both flappers and modern girls wear makeup. Flapper girls often put makeup on in public. On the contrary, women today usually will go into a bathroom to fix their makeup. Flappers flirted around with boys and went to many dances and parties. Today, women still flirt with boys but usually not as openly. They are also typically not the life of a party if they do attend one. Young American women still flaunt their independence and rights today as the flappers
In the 1920’s right after World War One, America was changing fast in many ways. Society was changing for women. Some were rebellious, and others became more equal partners in marriage. This sudden change was was fueled by the women it affected. Blacks were also changing society for them, with the Harlem Renaissance.