1920s Fashion
The fashion of the 1920s included the following trends:
Below-knee length drop-waist dresses with a loose, straight fit.
Beaded evening dresses inspired by “flappers.”
Mary Jane or T-strap heel shoes.
Casual sport golf knickers, argyle socks, blouse and tie.
Cocoon fur coats and fringe wraps.
Cloche hats and short bobbed hairstyles.
Bead or feather headbands for evenings.
Long pearl necklaces, bold Art Deco colors, faux gemstones.
Robe de Style (early 20’s) and Garcon Silhouette (mid to late 20’s).
Chemise Dress hung from shoulder to knees.
Dropped Waist to Hip Levels.
Pajama Suits.
Short Crop and Bob Hairstyles.
Pleated Skirts, Sweater and Cardigan Combos.
Silk Stockings worn with T-Bar and Cross strapped Cuban heeled court shoes.
From Copilot, which lists two sources:
I like the Mid Century Modern and Art Deco periods. They were both post war, monied eras before the car ate the world.
Architecturally, Mid Century Modern is more clean lined and I'm fond of the styles and colors of the built environment for that era but fashion-wise, I have a soft spot for the 1920s flapper era.
Historically, conservative clothing styles are associated with financial recessions or depressions and women become more exaggeratedly feminine, with long skirts and long hair.
My read on this is that women get more afraid of losing their husband's income and get more competitive with each other and it's a tragedy of the commons where people fight over the crumbs, leaving less to go around, instead of focusing on helping men and women both become more productive so there's more to go around.
Short hair is freeing and low maintenance and helps women be more productive.
Wartime or very warlike cultures are associated with improved status and rights for women. I'm keenly aware of this in part because my father and ex husband were both career military.
My first culture isn't really American culture. It's American military culture, which is distinct from civilian American culture and highly multicultural and less racist, more inclusive and more egalitarian.
People are generally pretty aware that during World War II, the US actively promoted women workers and women played baseball etc. (A la the movie A League of their Own.)
Women's baseball worked because the broadcasting tech of the era was RADIO, not TV, and in baseball you describe the action by listing last names. So there's hardly any difference in listening to radio coverage of women's baseball versus radio coverage of men's baseball and most of the men were off at war.
Broadcasting women's baseball helped retain a sense of normalcy and entertainment for our soldiers overseas so things didn't seem too dystopian while they tried to save the world.
People seem substantially LESS aware that World War I -- AKA The Great War, before it was renamed post WW2 -- had similar impacts.
Above lists Casual sport golf knickers, argyle socks, blouse and tie. In other words pants.
When The Great War began, corsets, floor length dresses and layered skirts were still the norm. People seem to blithely not wonder "How in the HELL did we go from THAT to loose-waisted, short flapper dresses and short hair???"
The answer is the war. They ASKED women to DONATE their extra petticoats and corsets to the war effort. Corsets were metal. Skirts were needed for things like parachutes, among other things.
The 1950s was when women were asked to quit work and free up jobs for "The Boys" returning from war. It was the Baby Boom era, the era that gave birth to the modern sprawling suburbs.
Busty, curvy women like Jane Mansfield were the popular look for women. Twiggy changed that in the 1960s and overly thin has been the standard ever since.
That's not really me and I'm interested in making clothes I would wear. Tall, thin, athletic and somewhat androgynous silhouettes while stylistically femme coded with feathers and colorful outfits etc. is more in line with what works for me and my default body type when my health is good.
The 1920s did a lot of short hair and then dressed it up with decorative headbands or similar. For medical reasons, I'm unlikely to ever sport long hair again or wear much, if any, makeup but I don't really like looking butch even though I'm fine with being somewhat androgynous.
I'm looking for inspiration going forward for how to marry my conservative feminine preferred aesthetic with short hair and no makeup and not feel like that clashes.
I'm planning to look to the 1920s for inspiration.
