The Roaring Twenties And The Jazz Age

In the beginning of the 20th Century, women wore skirts and gowns with boned corsets to enhance the female figure and changed outfits almost four times a day. During the day, women would wear skirts with a long train in the back, high necks, and the chest was concealed with wide cape-like collars that draped over the shoulders. Sleeves were usually measured from shoulder to elbow and fullness would extend to the wrist. In the evening, gowns were more bold and worn off the shoulder. Fabrics were soft, skirts were round and the confined below the knee, small balloon sleeves and nipped-in waists were last seen in the early 1900s.

The Roaring Twenties: a time when women broke out of their shells of modesty and were not afraid to bare a little skin or wear a bit of makeup; when women finally gained some control; when jazz music, drinking and partying were what society lived for; when flappers danced the night away. The 1920s was an era of great change in society’s attitude toward many different aspects of life. For instance, what was considered acceptable behavior for women and the way men treated their wives drastically changed. During World War I, women had to take up many responsibilities of the men fighting in war such as earning money for the family, leaving women no choice other than to get a job alongside of single-handedly raising their families. With men

They had no intention of going for a natural, modest, or conservative look; they strived for elaborate, artificial, stylized, and striking: “As Elizabeth's wardrobe became more opulent and elaborate, with a more exaggerated silhouette, so did that of her courtiers” (Royal Museums Greenwich). It was imperative to be fashion forward; meaning, if the Queen was wearing it, so should everyone else (who could afford it). Queen Elizabeth’s dress was similar to men’s style with broad shoulders, wide hips, and slim waists as she tried to appear more petite than she actually was. Many women during this time followed in her footsteps. Not only did the Queen have a great influence on women’s fashion, but she greatly influenced men’s fashion as well. Before the Elizabethan Era, “Men's fashion was much the same as it had been under her father and brother, favouring a broad, square silhouette with layers of garments made of rich fabrics” (Royal Museums Greenwich). After Elizabeth took the throne, the customary dress altered. Men began to wear corsets to obtain a cinched waist and stuffed 'peascod' doublets to make their stomachs pop out and have a pointed shape. On top of this, men’s dress consisted of underclothes such as a shirt, stockings or hose, codpiece, and corset and over clothes such as a doublet, separate sleeves, breeches, belt, ruff, cloak, shoes, and hat.

Ever since the 1920's over the years there are many almost all women following trends from back then.For example in the the article Female Academics they prefer to wear a "shirt and jacket with a small skirt or trousers". Many women are against or were against showing too much skin not showing skin above the knee.Women now feel like dressing up in a "Flapper" way you could say is a type of style they prefer to wear.

The 1920’s, known as The Jazz Age, The Age of Intolerance, and put more simply, The Age of Wonderful Nonsense. When mentioned, the twenties brings about the thought of The infamous Betty Boop, the flapper dresses,cigarettes galor, and prohibition. Yet,each of these small things were a result of the underlying social conflicts such as racism, prohibition in America, women versus society and in general, traditional values versus new values. Because of all of these problems in society the effect is what we now know as The Roaring Twenties.

What types of clothes were common during this era? Women’s clothing changed most dramatically in the 1920’s. They started showing more skin on their legs and arms. Women wore loose flowy dresses and skirts that came up above the ankle. More of their arms were shown because they strayed away from long sleeve shirts, and started wearing short sleeve blouses and tank tops.

Upsurge in factories and industrialization made possible the quenching of the newfound American thirst for high fashion following the end of WWI and the end of the corset driven wardrobe. The 1920s was a time period that became known as the Roaring Twenties and the birth of modernism. During this time emerged beaded dresses and progressively shorter hemlines. The clothing embraced the new jazz style of music and people publicly enjoyed themselves. Many wealthy Americans wanted to enjoy life.

      “As always, any fashion shifts for men were more evolutionary than revolutionary.” One of the most vast fashion styles for men were padded shoulders. Their jacket shoulders continued to get broader each year, while their pants remained slim and straight. Men’s bathing suits were usually

1920’s Fashion Era Whoa, the 1920s fashion era was full of fashion changes which modernized the way women and men dressed. The change was brought on by prosperity, affordability, and most importantly fashion awareness. The 1920’s fashion industry began an interesting era in evolving men and womens clothing and presenting a new younger look.

The 1920s was a rebellious,careless, and free era with the jazz age, prohibition, the 19th amendment, and the birth of mass media going on. These events greatly influenced what society wore, setting the stage for new fashion and improved trends. With World War I coming to an end, so was the idea of normalcy. With great economic growth, the United States was able to prosper into a peacetime society. Women started to dress less like women and more or less like men.

Much like the stocks of the 1920’s, women’s skirts and hemlines began to rise. The Roaring Twenties is known as the Jazz Age, with new freedoms, women’s rights, and the dawn of the daring flapper. The 1920’s were buzzing after the Great War was over. Everything began to change and everything was roaring. The stock market and the 19th Amendment influenced fashion in the 1920’s.

However, through the progression of history and the feminist revelation, more skin and options were available to women. In 1900, the majority of women were limited to wearing long sleeved, high cut, floor length dresses with a cinched waist and a skirt train; relatively no skin showing or the women would be considered a ‘whore’. Not much changed in the 1910’s except the cuts of the dress were less form fitting. The 1920’s showed significant change with midi dresses socially acceptable with slicked short bob haircuts and a feather in the hair. Silk and satin dresses with puffed cuff sleeves showed a peak in popularity in the 1930’s. World War 2 effected fashion with bringing in buttoned up pan suit type skirt and overcoat slightly resembling military uniforms. In 1960’s, floral print tulle sundresses were largely popular with various types of shoulder

The 1920's fashion trends were the shorter, low-waisted dresses and revealing styles worn by the Flappers, the 'bobbed' hairstyles, cloche hats, the casual, haphazard fashion of a mixture

Weather the clothes were for day, sport or evening they were styled to make men feel larger. During 1941-1945 World War 2 fabric rations were limited to make suits but not in style. The suits that the middle class men wore haven’t really changed much since then. The men’s fashion in the 1940 that was unique to the decade was the cut off clothes, the patterns and stylistic details. During this decade suit pockets could not have flaps and trousers could not be more than 19 inches around and be cuffed.

As we know, the roaring twenties was a time of change and independence. This age had made a mark in history for many different reasons, fashion being one of them. Before this era many women during this time had worn clothing that strictly covered the majority of skin, leaving out the face as well as other inevitable hidden parts of the body such as the hands. Even the smallest of skin showing was considered to be “scandalous”. An innumerable amount of females and males, had abandoned the everyday formal attire. More athletic clothing was worn by the men of this era. In times before, men and boys often kept their coats, jackets, and ties on even in warm/hot weather (BBC Schools, 2017). Between 1880 and 1910, before the dramatic change in fashion,