Girls, here's good news for you! How would you like to get a hundred dollars - just for being a flapper? Also a chance to move to Hollywood and become an actress star ! Provided you are more of a flapper than any of the entrants in THE FLAPPER BEAUTY CONTEST !
You don't have to be beautiful to be a flapper, and if you're not a flapper, you wouldn't be considered beautiful ! The thing is - you must be a flapper.
WHAT DOES A FLAPPER LOOK LIKE ?
Well, thats hard to tell. A Chicago beauty column recently listed her characteristics as follows:
1. Hairstyle - Bobbed 2. Make-up - powder and rouge on face - use of lip stick 3. Face - plucked eyebrows 4. Dress - low cut sleeveless bodice, absence of corset, little underclothing, often only a teddy bear, high skirts and roll your own stockings.
If you're friends think you're a flapper, chances are - you are !
Not very often does one come across color imagery of womens fashion and dress looks from the 1920's, but the National Geographic Stock Online have some stunning color photographs for sale of late 1920s women from different parts of the world - all taken around the same time period. Feast your eyes on these examples.
1920's woman in Oxford - 1928 - Clifford R Adams - National Geographic
Two young 1920s women - Belfast - 1928 - National Geographic - Clifford R Adams
1920s Flapper - National geographic- Neal P Davis
Two Flappers - Arizona - 1929 - National Geographic - Clifford r adams
Mexican woman - Brownsville Texas - National Geographic
Two 1920s women buying ice cream - Cornwall 1928 - National Geographic
Two german women - 1929 - Cologne - Wilhelm Tobien - National Geographic
1920s woman - Glouchester, mass - National Geographic
Women Archers - Austin Texas - 1928 - National Geographic
Woman - Isle of Wight - 1928 - National Geographic
Two 1920s women - Laredo Texas - Cliffors R Adams - National Geographic
The last one is my favourtite - it's like a French master. And there's so much more over at National Geographic. Enjoy.
For all our subscribers. If you use Firefox as a browser, then you'll love these vinage retro pinup style personas to add a little vintage glam to your daily browsing. Enjoy.
1920's Fashion Comeback ! Vintage 1920's style is on the way back again ! Loose-fitting dresses embellished with loads of fringing and beading are beginning to regularly pop up in fashion shows. Art Deco shows and 1920's themed partys seem to never go out of vogue. Hollywood is in love with the era again with films as diverse as The Changeling and Peter Jacksons King Kong emulating the late twenties early thirties period.
House of Elliot
Constant re-runs of hit TV show House of Elliot [ which oozed 1920's fashion from every scene] demonstrate that folks are nostalgic for more glamourous days.
Womens boots were a mainstay of womens fashion right up to the early 1920's by which time the scandalous rising of womens shirts to the knee caused boots to fall out of fashion as there was an uncomfortable gap between the top of the boot and the hem of the skirt .Womens boots did not appear again until the 1960's.
This film shows a very clever and quite modern looking pair of fashionable galoshes that would cover both heels and legs. City women would have found these useful to protect their silk stockings from being splashed by passing automobiles.The rubber stretch material covered both the heels easily and were zipped up to the knee. However they obviously did not take off.
Louise Brooks and Clara Bow, possibly the two greatest female screen icons of style in the 1920's.Their individual beauty helped define the flapper look and the jazz age of the roaring twenties.This film celebrates them both. If you should ever need a definitive tutorial or just some tips on 1920's, fashion, dress, bob hairstyles, clothing and the makeup look of the flapper, these two glamourous women and beauty icons epitomise it all . Sit back and be mesmerised.
This rare 1920's fashion archive colour film found by GlamourDaze features some stunning 1920's dress styles from the spring of 1928. Here it is again with a breakdown of each item of clothing as worn by some well know women of the late 1920's.
A most striking feminine chapeau is brought forth in wavecrest green, with Pascecan ecru lace trim, in large flare style, so becomingly worn by Corliss Palmer.
1920's Dress Style - Rachel Torres
Rachel Torres decides that a two piece felt set,cloche hat and bag to match with appliqued flowers of felt, is just the right dash for early spring wear.
1920's Cloche hat - Laura La Plante
A black and white chapeau of felt, chosen by Laura La Plante.
Vintage 1920's coat - Ruth Elder
Charming Ruth Elder lends grace to this smart ensemble Pur Le Sport coat with stitched embroidery.
If you're planning a 1920's party, fancy dress or just lookin for a good resource for flapper fashion from the 1920's, it never hurts to actually learn a bit about that incredible decade of style. Womens Fashion in the roaring twenties was all about elegance.
1920's Silhouette
The key was feminine grace, but without curves. This loose clothing fad only lasted a short while and eventually was replaced by more austere lines in the more grim days of the 1930's. A Slender and flat chested silhouette was the objective for women, and large busts could be flattened with the help of early bras like the infamous Symington Side Lacer.
Most people tend to think of the 1920's style as the Flapper Look. The short,flared mini skirt with headbands and long cigarette holders etc, but this style applies more to the 1960's revival of the roaring Twenties look, made popular by films such as the amazing Cabaret and The Boyfriend, starring Twiggy.
The Flapper Look
Descriptions of the Flapper as reported in newspapers of the times.
" She is a symbol of the times. As she sweeps down the street, she is like nothing so much as a fine, young spirited puppy-dog, eager for the fray"
"But then it was not good form to wear paint in daylight. Now it is, apparently. That many young women now carry this to extreme is not unusual..."
"One hears it said that the girls are actually tempting the boys more than the boys do the girls, by their dress and conversation..."
"How can I sell these styles?...the flappers won't buy them."
1920's Dresses
Most dresses and skirts between 1925 and 1930 rested just below the knee, often just above the ankle . To be truly authentic - knee length dresses were matched with short necklaces and long dresses had long necklaces ! Day Dresses often were little different from evening wear but would employ lace or some other type of overlay .
Dresses were often made at home with the help of the Womens Institute designs, and were designed to be simple - two pieces of fabric sewn up the sides ! Mary Brooks Picken's 1920's Dress designs were extremely popular. You would use a Dress form to hang it on for fitting to your own specific body shape. The style would hang loose and quite straight over the waist, and therefore was straight forward enough to cut out from a pattern and sew.
The Dress Form
The waistline was very low - often below the bum, until 1925. Thereafter the waistline was nearer the natural hip.
Dress accessories, Fabrics and Popular 1920's Dress Colors
Oodles of Beading, furs, feathers, flowers, and lace ! especially when going out at night. Popular fabrics were chiffon,taffeta, satin, velvet and brocade! beading, furs, feathers, flowers, and lace. Floral dress colours, as can be seen in our archive film below, were hugely popular.
Shimmering Art Deco styles in gold for your purse, makeup cases etc.
Not to mention your personal gold cigarette case !
Feathered headbands and turbans - often the image associated with the flapper look were really an art nouveau left over from the 1910's and by the mid 1920's if you chose to wear one, you pushed it well back and lost the feathers ! Sequined caps - often heavily ornamented were also popular. Hat Fashion went side by side with hair styles. The big decision facing many women was to Bob or not to Bob, to Crop or not to Crop, or just play safe go with the Fingerwave style !
The Bob
The Eton Crop
The FingerWave Hairstyle
In the early twenties,hats were wider in order to hold the longer hairstyles. As more and more women bobbed or cropped their hair, hats were tighter to the head and the most popular style was the famous cloche hat. In our opinion, the coolest hat ever designed.
Vintage Corsets remained popular among young working women in the 1920's, but come evening time, off went the corsets, stockings were rolled to the knee and women danced !! Long Girdles with attached suspenders were often worn.
Women wore directoire knickers, or cami-knickers or knickers and a petticoat. In stockings,Soft pastel colours or flesh colours were popular and the new artificial silk called Rayon. Nylons were not due until the late 1930's.
Vintage womens coats - The 1920's
Wrapover coats were the essential style, especially in winter. Large buttons and belts galore. The coat lining was often fashioned to match dress fabric.
1920's Womens Flapper Shoes
In the 1920's women's shoes focussed on the strap design. Bar Shoes and T- Bar shoes were all the rage. Popular because you could dance without them slipping off !
Finally sit back and enjoy some beautiful archive films of 1920's fashion.
Stay tuned for a full post on 1920's Makeup style on its way soon. Also a dedicated Vintage Makeup Guide site with downloadable ebooks!
and 
, starring Twiggy.
designs were extremely popular. You would use a Dress form to hang it on for fitting to your own specific body shape. The style would hang loose and quite straight over the waist, and therefore was straight forward enough to cut out from a pattern and sew.
and 1920's Hairstyles
