Flappers

The ‘new breed’ of young western women.

Osob Roble

• The word ‘flapper’ describes a fashionable young woman in the 1920’s, intent on enjoying herself and disregarding conventional standards of behavior.

They flapper was an extreme manifestation of changes in theLifestyle of American women and they did this particularly Through the way they dressed.

They pushed the boundaries of gender roles, representingSexual and economic freedom.

Flapper slang: they used words such as ‘jazz’ to describe anything exciting or fun.The term ‘ I have to see a man about a dog’ meant they were going out to buy whiskey.They also used words such as ‘handcuff’ or ‘manacle’ to describe and engagement of wedding Ring.

The Flapper’s Style • They wore short skirts and dresses which was unusual for a

woman of that time to dress, as women where still expected to dress modestly.

• They were all mainly young women as the previous generation where part of the Victorian era.They wore :more jewelryShort skirts Short dressed

Coco ChanelWas a fashion designer, who’s label and legacy still Lives on today. She was known for her clothing and Perfumes. In the 1920’s she had introduced a simple, Short and loose dress known as the ‘Chemise’, this Dress allowed Flapper’s the freedom of movement soThat they could dance the night away! She even madeTan skin more popular as she showed hers off after A holiday.

Zelda Fitzgerald

She was an author and the wife of F. ScottFitzgerald, who called her ‘the first American Flapper’. Her lifestyle was what made her a ‘celebrity’ outside of the literary world. Her andHer husband where known for public partying And their drunken antics made headlines in the1920’s.

Hairstyles and cosmetics

They kept their hair short and boyish because it was in style and seenOn the cover of magazines like Vogue.

However, they kept the Flapper make up look was very bold and heavy In comparison to what would have been allowed previously outside of Professional usage in theatre.

MusicFlappers were influenced by Jazz music.

For example, Gene Austin ‘My Blue Heaven’ And George Olsen and his music ‘Sunny’

Lifestyle of the Flapper• Petting parties became very popular.• They drank and smoked in public.• They went out dancing a lot.• They were allowed to take part in more sports.• They were allowed to drive. • They where more sexually liberated also.

How Flappers where represented in the media

In the English media they were stereotyped as pleasure-loving, reckless and prone to defy convention by initiating sexual relationships.In the 1920s, however, many Americans found the flapper incredibly threatening. Flappers represented a new moral order. Although they were the daughters of the middle class, they flouted middle-class values. They shrugged off their chaperones. Worse still, they danced suggestively and openly flirted with boys. Flappers prized style over substance, novelty over tradition, and pleasure over virtue.

There was a magazine in 1922 located in Chicago, that celebrated the flappers appeal:In their very first issue on the opening page it stated:

Greetings, flappers! All ye who have faith in this world and its people, who do not think we are going to the eternal bowwows, who love life and joy and laughter and pretty clothes and good times, and who are not afraid of reformers, conformers, or chloroformers — greetings!…Thanks to the flappers the world is going round instead of crooked, and life is still bearable. Long may the tribe wave!

The end of the Flapper The flapper lifestyle and look disappeared in America after the Wall Street Crash and the following Great Depression. The high-spirited attitude and hedonism were less acceptable during the economic hardships of the 1930s.