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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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...hinson Encyclopedia. 2011. eLibrary. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.
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.
Monet, Dolores. "Women's Fashions of the 1920's - Flappers and the Jazz Age." HubPages. HubPages, n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014. .
Scott, Robert. "1920s Womens Fashions." 1920's Womens Fashions. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014. .
Thomas, Pauline. "Flapper Fashion 1920s C20th Fashion History." Fashion-Era. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 1929. http://www.fashion-era.com/flapper_fashion_1920s.htm#Make Up Rites
Woolum, Janet. Chapter 1 Women in American Sports. The Oryx Press, 1992. eLibrary. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.
From coast to coast people were reading the exploits of a new type of woman called flapper. Prior to World War 1 Victorian ideals still dictated the behavior of American women and girls. Frederick Lewis Allen describes the traditional role of women. Women were the guardians of morality. They were made of finer stuff than men. They were expected to act accordingly. Young girls must look forward in innocence to a romantic love match which would lead them to the altar and to living happily ever after. Until the right man came along they must allow no male to kiss them. Flappers did the opposite. Flappers danced the Charleston, kissed their boyfriends while they played golf and sat behind the wheels of fast cars. The liberated usually young female disdained the traditions of her mother and grandmother before her. Flappers would smoke and drink alcohol, she cut her hair and wore short dresses. They also changed their views on courtship rituals, marriage, and child rearing. With these they could have the same freedom as men could. The time period also saw a highly physical change in women’s lives like how they dressed and looked. For the first time in American history women could choose to be free from long hair and voluminous clothing. Before the women changed they wore very restrictive clothing consisting of long skirts with layers of petticoats over tightly laced corsets that produced an hourglass figure with wide hips and a narrow waist.
"Fashion Timeline : 1920 To 1930." Vintage Fashion Guild. Vintage Fashion Guild, 2014. Web. 15 Feb. 2014. .
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 generation leading up to the emergence of the flapper, the popular style for women was that of the “Gibson Girl”. Based on the depictions of women by...
The 1920’s was a period of extremely economic growth and personal wealth. America was a striving nation and the American people had the potential to access products never manufactured before. Automobile were being made on an assembly line and were priced so that not just the rich had access to these vehicles, as well as, payment plans were made which gave the American people to purchase over time if they couldn't pay it all up front. Women during the First World War went to work in place of the men who went off to fight. When the men return the women did not give up their positions in the work force. Women being giving the responsibility outside the home gave them a more independent mindset, including the change of women's wardrobe, mainly in the shortening of their skirts.
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 women's roles were soon starting to change. After World War One it was called the "Jazz Age", known for new music and dancing styles. It was also known as the "Golden Twenties" or "Roaring Twenties" and everyone seemed to have money. Both single and married women we earning higher- paying jobs. Women were much more than just staying home with their kids and doing house work. They become independent both financially and literally. Women also earned the right to vote in 1920 after the Nineteenth Amendment was adopted. They worked hard for the same or greater equality as men and while all this was going on they also brought out a new style known as the flapper. All this brought them much much closer to their goal.
Even though women were discriminated throughout society in the 1920’s, they still fought for their rights as women that deserved an important role within our society. This change in women’s attitude influenced women across the world to value themselves and their importance. Women in the 1920’s changed the 20th century, and they are still changing society as we know it in our generation and will keep doing so for generations to
There was a change in traditional clothings. A new fashioned group of women started to appear in the 1920s. Flappers are women who appeal to more modern and fashionable way of dressing and living styles. Women wore short skirts instead of long dresses. The short, bobbing hairs took place of long, tight buns. “Manly” actions such as smoking and drinking are becoming more common within women. Women are totally turning the tradition upside down during the twenties.
Gourley, Catherine. Flappers and the New American Women: Perceptions of Women from 1918 through the 1920s. Vol. 2. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century, 2008. Print. Images and Issues of Women in the Twentieth Century.
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...
Fashion of the 1920’s was also known as the roaring 20’s. Fashion in the 1920’s became more relaxed in the 20’s. In the early 1920’s the normal fashion was dropped waistlines, long, cylindrical skirts, 7” to 10” below the knee. Women finally received the right to vote, with this new right women also
Time flew by and as the war ended in 1918, the 1920’s decade of change soon approached. The year was famously known as “The Jazz Age” and “The Roaring 20’s” because of the newly found freedom, social and political changes, and the time of prohibition. Among these powerful new changes was the freedom that women were finally able to vote and enjoy what was about to come. Instead of being confined at home, the women joined labor forces, worked with wages, and experimented with different types of behavior that would have been unreasonable a few years back. Along with these dramatic changes were their fashion styles. This style changed their rights and relationships with others completely. With that change, a new woman was born. There were not many ways for women to stand up for themselves and what they believed in. They had no voice but in the 1920’s, women found a way of freely expressing themselves and changing their relationships with others all with the start of fashion.
Women of the 1920's 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. Women before the 1920's were very different from the women of the Roarin' 20's. Gwen Hoerr Jordan stated that the ladies before the 1920's wore dresses that covered up most of their skin, had pinned up long hair, were very modest, had chaperones and had men make all of their decisions (1).