The Roaring Twenties- the birth of a new kind of woman: The Flapper

In the 1920's a new kind of woman was born, she smoked, drank, danced and voted. She cut her hair and wore make-up, was giddy and took risks.

Before:

Previous to the I World War there was another type of girl, the Gibson Girl. She had long luscious hair, wore long straight skirts and shirts with a high collar. She broke several gender barriers in the sense that she played sports such as golf, roller skating and bycicling, yet she did not date, she was meant to wait for a proper young suiter who would demonstrate interest in marrying her.

The War:

After the I World War both the boys and girls had broken out of society's structure but they were now expected to settle down into the lifeless routine of their old lives, as if nothing had ever happened. They disrespectfully said “no!”.

A whole generation of young men had died in the war, and the women didn't want to waste their lives waiting for spinsterhood. They were going to enjoy life, it was now or never.

The Flapper:

The term first appeared in Great Britain after the War, it was used to describe young girls, still somewhat awkward in movement who hadn't entered womanhood yet.

Authors such as Fitzgerald and artists such as John Held Jr. helped to convey a popular image of the flapper. The first described the ideal flapper as: “lovely, expensive and about nineteen”, Held drew young girls wearing unbuckled galoshes that made a “flapping” noise when walking.

Image:

There were drastic changes in women's clothing and hair. Every article of clothing was trimmed down and lightned in order to ease movement, since the new energetic dances of the Jazz Age required women to be able to move freely.

The look known as “garçonne” was actually inspired by the looks of a little boy and was instigated by Coco Chanel. The waists dropped to the hipline and the hem of the skirts started to rise, till it was just bellow the knee. The main trait that distinguished the flapper was the hair. It was cut short, like a boy's in a style called “the bob” and was topped of with a hat: a “cloche”.

They also wore a lot of make-up, a trait usually associated with loose women that was now becoming increasingly popular: rouge, eye-liner, powder, lipstick...

Attitude:

Characterized by fast-living, truthfulness and sexual behaviour. The flapper took risks and was a bit reckless. She acted like her youth could leave her at any moment. She had a need to be different, to defy normalcy. That was exactly what flappers did. They smoked in public and danced to “wild” styles such as Charleston and Shimmy, dance styles that fitted their fast-paced lifestyle.

With Henry Ford making the autombile affordable the flapper felt an instant need to not only drive it but also to use the backseat for ilicit activities, flaunting their blatant sexuality.

The End:

Many were shocked by this new feminine lifestyle, but there was a less extreme version of the flapper, one that became repectable: she cut off her hair and stopped wearing corsets, yet she did not partake in extreme behaviour.

At the end of the 1920's the stock market crashed and the world was plunged into the Great Depression. Frivolity and recklessness were forced to come to an end.

“The flapper broke away from the Victorisn image of womanhood. She dropped the corset, chopped off herr hair, dropped layers of clothing, wore make-up, created the concept of dating and became a sexual person. They created and gave way to the “modern” woman”

Marta Tarré