The Role Of Flappers In The 1920's

It was the 1920s. A woman was walking down the street in her new dress and her short haircut. She was getting whistles from the men and envious, hateful whispers from the conservatively dressed women she passed by. The woman could hear the word “flapper” spreading amongst both genders. Flapper was the word to describe the “new woman” of the twenties. This woman was more liberal with her clothing. A flapper wanted to lose the persona of a housewife and gain the look of an independent woman. Now, almost a hundred years later, a woman with the same look and dress would be looked at as the “normal” in social situations. If a woman were to wear that same outfit to work, she might get the same reaction as the woman in the twenties. The way women

dressed in the twenties set the ground for where certain fashions are accepted at today. Sadly, the popular fashion from the twenties that is still in style today gets mixed views in certain situations. Women would hear gossip from employees if they show up to work in an above-the-knee skirt, but they will also get funny looks from friends if they decide to go out in anything more conservative than a short dress. There has to be a question of whether what women wear affects how they are looked at in certain situations. What a woman wears to work does not affect her work nor does what she wear when she is out with her friends affect how fun she is. Also, does what a woman choose to wear affect her personal life? In the twenties, women desired more freedom to express themselves. Could how a woman present herself be a representation of her household and socioeconomic status?
Research that brings together twenties fashion and present day fashion and how it affects women is not something common to find. The studies on the twenties and present day fashion focus mainly on how it was affected by women’s lives and how it changed the way women felt about themselves. The studies also took into account how women were looked at by men and other women. The studies mainly looked at twenties and present day fashion on a social, professional, and personal level and how women’s lives were affected.
Twenties fashion introduced short and revealing dresses for social wear.

This look was associated with what people would refer to as “flapper style”. This look also brought short haircuts and cigarette-smoking women. Deborah Saville describes this style of clothing as “[w]earing a dress without a brassiere that exposes [a woman’s] arms and back and exotic scarf wrapped around a thickly styled bob…” (Dress 75). Women also preferred loose clothing. For example, “by the 1920s, streamlined women’s fashions favored…fitted bust to midthigh, minimized women’s breasts and hips” (Designing Women 40). This was a normal outfit for a night out with friends or to a party. This outfit was the result of the “Sexual Revolution” that took place during the twenties. Women were fascinated over how free the flapper was. Jazz was also another major part in fashion for the twenties. A great example of jazz fashion was the “Miss Jazz” costume. As stated in the book Twentieth-Century American Fashion, “’Miss Jazz’ was a long thin dress of black and silver geometric shapes worn with a tall hat similar to a wizard’s hat”

(65).
When it comes to today’s fashion from a social stance, the shorter the better. Women have become more agreeable to showing great amounts of skin if it means they will have fun. The reaction from the opposite sex is also another reason why women wear short clothing. Sex has not went out of style; women in a social environment want to be seen by men. Unfortunately, that can lead to negative consequences. Rape has been a bi- product of women’s short dresses and men’s promiscuity. According to the West Virginia University’s Student Center of Health, because of the way a woman presents herself, it could make her an “easy, vulnerable [target]” for rape to happen (para. 9).
Twenties social fashion and the Sexual Revolution helped to make today’s social fashion the way it is. The whole goal of the woman in the twenties was to feel liberated. Wearing revealing and enticing clothing helped women feel as if they were in charge in themselves. Today’s fashion shows that that idea of freedom in clothing in a social setting is still prominent. Women still wear short, revealing dresses, but they have become tighter when compared to the flapper dresses in the twenties. Most women in the twenties and in the present day dress to impress the opposite sex, but it could cause either a positive or negative reaction.
After the First World War, women were starting to gain more opportunities in jobs. Those jobs, on the other hand, were mostly in the fashion industry. Coco Chanel’s fashion career is an example of how women were starting to dominate the fashion industry. Women were not accepted in what was considered to be a “man’s job”, and it was not because of what they wore. It was more of a psychological issue; men thought a woman’s place was in the home. Clothes were less of a factor when it came to a woman’s professional life in the twenties.
Today’s professional fashion for women dramatically effects whether a woman gets a job or not.

Women have to be as conservative as possible if they want to have a respectable job. Based on the research by Lippa, Preston, and Penner, it declares that the “women’s population increased most dramatically over time in higher status occupations…” (6). Women started putting the knowledge they gained about professional dress into action, and they were going out to get the “high status” job. Professional wear is the opposite of social wear. Pantsuits and skirts past the knee are acceptable. Wearing anything above-the-knee would be considered “unprofessional”. In the work setting, women can easily lose respect if they come to work in anything that shows too much skin. It can also lead to what is considered to be “workplace bullying”. Workplace bullying is everything that can be categorized as bullying or abuse, and that includes sexual harassment. Carol Jones states in her research that “[o]ne of the most significant barriers to professional participation is sexual harassment” (qtd. in Alonso-Almeida 166). That can lead to serious consequences and questionable doubt about the job for women. McIntoch states that “when women experience workplace bullying…benefits of working are diminished” (762). In contrast, women can actually use the way they dress to advance in the professional world. Some women have exploited their bodies in short, tight professional wear to secure a

promotion.
Twenties fashion did not have a “professional” side to effect what we would consider to be today’s professional wear. In the twenties, women were still considered household, but they started gaining more job opportunities especially in the fashion industry. Now, women have earned their right to the corporate jobs, but it did not come without a cost. Women had to leave behind their short skirts and wear pants suits in order to earn respect at their jobs.
Women in the twenties started to gain a sense of freedom. A reason why women felt more liberated is because World War I had eradicated almost an entire generation of young men that decided to fight in the war. (Flappers para. 6) That caused women to want to enjoy life for themselves. Women were seeing themselves as more than just household caretakers. The way women dressed helped add on to the liberation they were experiencing. With the “booming” economy at the time, women had a lot more money to spend on clothes, and that caused their fashion to be considered “high class”. According to Heather Whipps, since they had “money in their pockets… Americans… developed an insatiable appetite as consumers…” (para. 2).
In the personal lives of today’s women, their dress depends on their life and how they are living it. If their life is filled with different men, then they will more than likely dress to show a lot of skin, but if their life involves a husband and children, then they will be more conservative in what they choose to wear. It also depends on a woman’s socioeconomic status. Unlike the twenties, the economy of today’s world is not as stimulating, so women shop for what they can afford. Researchers Quisumbling and Muluccio et.al. state that women have been proven to have “more control over the household budget” (qtd. in York and Bell 50). Women are the ones expected to make sure everything is in supply for the family in the house, so sometimes a sense of style can be forgotten.
Twenties fashion and today’s fashion on a personal level is almost the same because it depends on the situation of the woman’s socioeconomic level. The twenties showed that since the economy was going great for a lot of American women, they were able to more easily and freely express themselves. In today’s world, the economy is not as good for the majority of American families. Women in today’s world have to spend their money wisely in order to save and also provide clothing and other supplies for the whole family.
Whether it is positive or negative, twenties fashion does have an effect on today’s fashion and how women can be looked at in certain situations. Today’s social fashion was derived from the flapper fashion and what was called the “Sexual Revolution”. Unfortunately, the short and tight dresses could lead to negative consequences such as rape. Today’s professional wear did not have a big impact from the twenties. The professional lives of women in the twenties did not focus a lot on what women wore; it was more of trying to get women an equal opportunity in a “man driven” job. Today, what a woman wears to work can be what determines if she gets a promotion or gets talked about by her co-workers. A woman in the twenties felt liberated and that feeling carried over to her clothes. Women’s fashion for their personal lives in the twenties could afford to be “high class”. Now, in today’s world, women shop on the bargain end of retail.
From what was shown with the research, no matter what decade it is, fashion is impacted by any situation, and it also plays a major role. If a person is out at a nightclub with his or her friends, then an extravagant outfit would be acceptable. Fashion can also determine the environment of a situation. If the dress code for a party is casual, the environment will be very relaxed; it would be the exact opposite environment for a formal ball where the dress code would include formal attire. Fashion can also affect what people think of each other. Wearing the wrong thing for an occasion can give people the wrong impression. The way people dress can determine an occasion’s environment, and that is why fashion plays an important role when it comes to any situation whether it be a family occasion or a business meeting.