Chicago by Night ~ View topic

Joined: 18 Dec 2009 Posts: 996

Art Deco: a style of design that was popular in the 1920s and 1930s; marked by stylized forms and geometric designs adapted to mass production, rhythmic patterns, bold colors and simple compositions.

Women

The Flapper

The costume history image in our minds of a woman of the 'Roaring Twenties' is actually likely to be the image of a flapper. Flappers did not truly emerge until 1926. Flapper fashion embraced all things and styles modern. A fashionable flapper had short sleek hair, a shorter than average shapeless shift dress, a chest as flat as a board, wore make up and applied it in public, smoked with a long cigarette holder, exposed her limbs and epitomised the spirit of a reckless rebel who danced the nights away in the Jazz Age.

Attainable Fashion for All

High fashion until the twenties had been for the richer women of society. But because construction of the flapper's dress was less complicated than earlier fashions, women were much more successful at home dressmaking a flapper dress which was a straight shift. It was easier to produce up to date plain flapper fashions quickly using flapper fashion Butterick dress patterns. Recorded fashion history images after the twenties do reflect what ordinary women really wore rather than just the clothing of the rich.

The flapper fashion style flourished amid the middle classes negating differences between themselves and the truly rich, but continuing to highlight some differences with the really poor. The really rich still continued to wear beautifully embellished silk garments for evening, but the masses revelled in their new found sophistication of very fashionable flapper clothes.

The Short Skirt Misconception of the Twenties

New students of costume history often mistakenly assume that all dresses day and evening were short in every year of the twenties and that flappers were the only fashion style of the twenties. Dress and coat lengths were actually calf length and quite long for most of the decade. Shortness is a popular misconception reinforced by the availability of moving film of the Charleston dance which shows very visible knees and legs on the dancing flappers.

Skirts only revealed the knee briefly between 1926 and 1928, and this was the only period when evening dresses were short in line with day dress lengths. This was the flapper fashion era.

The Masculine Silhouette of 1920's Females

After the first world war (1914-18) when women's dress became more mannish, each year seemed to get more severe in line which almost emphasised the feminine woman beneath. Female clothes became looser and more shapeless in fit. The bust was suppressed, the waist disappeared, the shoulders became broader and hair shorter and shorter. Narrow boyish hips were preferred. The silhouette emphasised a flattened chest and womanly curves were eliminated as the line became more simplified.

The Flat Chest of the Twenties

The slender flat-chested tanned body and face of a 15 year old became the desired silhouette of the bright young things of the 1920s. Health and beauty clubs helped women refine their silhouettes whilst getting fitter and healthier.

It was a difficult time for the former matrons of Edwardian society, the previous leaders of fashion whose style of dressing became as pass� as their rounded figures and older faces. More youthful women who could party all night and carry the boyish fashions well were all the rage.

The 1920's Bra

The bras of the early 20s include home made ones in white cotton and which were little more than bust bodices with extra separation. Some purchased bras were like camisoles and they offered no support.

Big busted girls turned to bandaging their breasts flat, but many adopted the Symington Side Lacer, a bra that could be laced at both sides and pulled and pulled in to flatten the chest.

For young ladies with youthful figures a satisfactory bra was the four sectioned lace bandeau bra, lined in net. None of the bras gave much shape, but few ladies were seeking anything more than stopping the bust from wobbling. As long as they looked boyish they looked fashionable.

By the 1930s Triumph, Maidenform, Gossard, Warner Brothers, Spirella, Twilfit and Symingtons were all making bras that did the job of separating the breasts. At the same time it was finally acknowledged that women had differing cup sizes and bra sales doubled with the new designs.

Girdles and Underwear

Between 1920 and 1928 corset sales declined by two thirds, but it adapted to changing needs. Fast flappers refused to wear corsets and rolled their stockings to the knee to enable them to dance easily. Long Corsets produced the boyish figure, but instead of thick boned corsets many women preferred thin elastic webbing Lastex girdles that flattened the abdomen. Suspenders were attached to the girdles.

Underwear was minimal, sheer and lightweight. Women wore cami-bockers (directoire knickers and chemise) or cami-knickers or knickers and a petticoat. I have seen some searches for these as director knickers so let's be clear the term is directoire.

An Air of Nudity in Stockings and Bare Arms

Although the 1950s are thought of as the first time of the teenager and the 1960s as the era when the young first led fashion, there is no doubt that the possession of a youthful body was a prerequisite of twenties flapper fashion.

The arms were bared not only for evening, but also for day and the legs were covered in beige stockings visible to the knee which gave an overall more naked look than ever before. Feet, ankles and calves formerly hidden and encased in black stocking were suddenly on show. Young women always wore black wool stockings until the end of World War I.

By the 1920s stockings with patterns were hot fashion items. Embroidery snaked around the ankles and up to the knees. Flesh and soft pastel colours were popular and they were made in either silk or artificial silk known as art silk later called rayon. The rayon stockings were very shiny so girls powdered their legs to dull them before venturing out. Names of stocking colours were Honey Beige, Teatime, Rose Morn, Boulevard and Spanish Brown. Lastex, a rubber based thread was used in knee highs in bright colours.

Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel

The great fashion designer Gabrielle Chanel 1883-1971 self styled herself to be known as Coco Chanel. By 1920 the silhouette of her clothing designs have come to be the epitome of 20's style. The work of other famous designers beside hers seemed old fashioned and outmoded belonging as they did to the pre World War One era.

She promoted the styles we associate with flappers. She worked in neutral tones of beige, sand, cream, navy and black in soft fluid jersey fabrics cut with simple shapes that did not require corsetry or waist definition. They were clothes made for comfort and ease in wear making them revolutionary and quite modern. She was the Jean Muir or Donna Karan of her day and the originator of the LBD - that little black dress.

Short Hair

The 1920s saw a universal fashion for short hair a more radical move beyond the curtain styles of the war era. Hair was first bobbed, then shingled, then Eton cropped in 1926-7. An Eton crop was considered daring and shocked some older citizens, since hair had always been thought a woman's crowning glory. Only maiden aunts and elderly dowagers avoided the severe shorter styles.

Cloche Hats

Women wore cloche hats throughout the twenties. A cloche hat told everyone that you had short hair. It was only possible to get a close fitting cloche on the skull if the hair was cropped short and flat. Foreheads were unfashionable in the 1920s.

Make Up Rites

During the era there was an increased use of make up and it was fashionable to perform the rites of make up in public. Instead of disappearing to the powder room women got out their engraved compact and applied lipstick and powder in sight of a whole restaurant or nightclub or tearoom. Ox blood lipstick was used lavishly, but rouge was still used sparingly. Today compacts from the 1920s are sought after by collectors.

Fashionable Twenties Coats and Outerwear

Coats of the 1920s were mostly long until 1926. They all seemed to have one thing in common in that almost all illustrations of them show them as wrap-over whatever the length.

The 1920s coats often wrapped to just one side fastening which was a feature of the garment. The coat fastening was either a huge button or some complex tab and buckle.

Many coats had shawl fur collars. A fashion for coordinating coat linings with dress fabrics started at this time.

Unisex Styles

Chanel had introduced the world to the jumper and it was worn by both men and women. Knitted garments for men really took off in the twenties and women eagerly wore the same knits too. Fair Isle patterns became very popular for both sexes.

Free from corsetry and wearing simplified clothing modern women were able to indulge in sports. Soon swimming, golf and tennis along with keep fit were the passions of young ladies. Shorts became acceptable wear for cycling and for skating normal dresses were roomy enough for movement. The fashionable modern women of the twenties unlike their Edwardian laced and boned mothers truly belong to the twentieth century.

1920-1930 Shoes

T bar shoes with buckles and bows and straps featured in the 1920s.

The T bar shoe was the style of the twenties.

Footwear was visible beneath short dresses and was selected with more care as a fashion accessory.

Once shoes began to be mass manufactured in the 1920s footwear became an essential fashion accessory. Now it was truly visible beneath shorter dresses it needed to be selected with more care. Heels were over 2 inches high and waisted. Strapped shoes were called Mary Janes. T bar shoes or others with buckles and bows made interesting fashion statements. Sequin or diamante trims were quite usual.

Joined: 18 Dec 2009 Posts: 996

Men

Men�s Fashion in the 1920s Overview

For the past few centuries, men had worn some variation on three-piece suits. Edwardian upper-class men in particular had been very formal, changing clothes several times a day as propriety dictated. The war changed attitudes and did much to level the classes, which reflected in fashion. Younger men, in a switch from wearing the clothes of their elders, adopted a look all their own with baggy plus fours and wide-legged trousers. Suits were simpler, with just slim, unpadded jackets over the trousers, and fabrics and colors were lighter and brighter than anyone had seen in years, reflecting the brightness of the music, theatre and good times.

Comfort

Much of men�s clothing in the 1920s took its cue from what popular athletes were wearing. The plus fours, of course, were worn by golf stars, who topped them with colorful Fair Isle sweaters. As tennis grew in popularity, the white trousers and V-neck sweaters the players wore informed much of what young men wore around town.

The Crease Is In

As men�s trousers grew wider, a new major change appeared � the front crease. Emphasizing a man�s overall shape, the crease made for a stronger silhouette and more striking look overall. Cuffs were added to trousers, further sharpening the look and drawing more attention to spectator shoes. Instead of suspenders, waist-slimming belts were becoming the popular means of holding up these slick new trousers.

The baggy trousers were called �Oxford bags,� because they had originated at Oxford University, where a ban on knickerbockers prompted the students to turn to baggy trousers instead.

Popular though baggy trousers were, men�s fashion in the 1920s changed as regularly as did women�s. Some jazz enthusiasts felt their musical passions were best expressed through long, tight-waisted jackets and skinny trousers. It was the beginning of individuality as expressed via clothing.

Formal Wear

With casual wear so radically different from previous decades, and women�s clothing changing so boldly, it may be something of a surprise to note that men�s formal wear in the 1920s was much the same as it had always been. Black was the only color to wear in the evening, and while the frock coat had given way to the tailcoat, the overall look was the same. A starched white shirt and high collar with a bow tie was worn under the tails, and the black trousers topped shiny black shoes. For all else that changed then and has continued to change in men�s wear, this formal suit remains much the same.

Hats On

No man of any class was out in public without a hat. That had been true for centuries and was still very much the case in the 1920s. In summer, light blazers were topped by a Panama straw hat or the shallow, flattop, stiff-brimmed hats called either boaters or skimmers, depending on the brim�s width. Autumn and winter were all about the felt fedora, worn with panache by gangsters but beloved of all men for their style and comfort.

Style Driving

The 1920s saw the rise of the automobile as a major part of the culture. The booming financial times meant that many more people could afford a car and the fashion industry took note, creating clothing worn almost specifically for driving. Men wore flat English driving caps and vented leather gloves when toting their sweeties around town. The leather jacket popularized by dashing aviator Charles Lindbergh was something no stylish man could do without, and many liked to include the white silk scarf as well.

Till the Music Stopped

Men�s fashion in the 1920s had a snap, sizzle and brightness that have mostly associated with women�s Jazz Age couture, and it stayed that way until the stock market crash of 1929.