Flappers of the Roaring

Twenties

Women's’ styles have

been very uptight and

proper. Women wore floor

length dresses, long hair,

no make up and corsets…

Ideal style in 1900 called

Gibson Girls

Americans wanted to rejoice and redefine

themselves

Rejected the past

Led to new lifestyles and social values

25% women worked outside the home

Automobiles

New social values

Voting rights

Freud: New ideas about sexuality (It’s

normal and healthy)

•Young women in the 1920’s who

rebelled against tradition

•―Author F. Scott Fitzgerald describes

flappers as ―Lovely, expensive and

about 19‖..

•One dictionary says ―Giddy,

attractive, slightly unconventional,

somewhat foolish girl full of wild

surmises and inclined to revolt against

the precepts and admonitions of her

elders‖. Flappers had the image

and the attitude to match.

•Wild partying

•Smoked cigarettes and drank alcohol

–unheard of if you were a woman!

•Lived reckless lives and clung to

youth

•Flappers were the first of the women

to flaunt their sexuality

•Their lifestyles were shown in the

way that they dressed and danced

•Wore heavy make up

•Clothes: a dress just below the knee,

stockings, heels no corset

•The look was influenced by Coco

Chanel

•Gender bending—tightly wrap their

chest to flatten it

•The ―Tube‖—Lower hipline and

straight from shoulders to hem

•―The Bob‖ is the famous hair of the 20’s.

•Cut very short in the back

and a bit longer in the front.

The Cloche Hat: Fit snuggly over short

hair and reached the eyebrows

Drinking

•Drinking was a favorite

pastime of the flappers.

Before 1920’s, only men

would drink publicly

•Seen as ―Giddy

Flappers‖ due to

drunkenness

•Many carried a flask

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Dancing

•Charleston, Black

Bottom and the

Shimmy

―In the 1920’s, a new woman was born. She smoked,

drank, danced and voted. She cut her hair, wore make-

up, and went to wild parties. She was giddy and took

risks.‖

History1900s.about.com/od/1920s/a/flappers.htm

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