Volume 12 , Issue 28

1918-1929 Fashions

After the War in 1918 the Suffragettes finally won the vote in the UK, and in America voting for women was won in 1920. Fashion trends towards a more casual look continued in the 1920's. In the aftermath of the war, people questioned the values of the older generation that had led to the conflict. To a great extent people believed that those values were discredited, along with the generation that spawned it.

American culture in particular became very youth oriented, and fashion began to look towards teen and college-age kids for it's inspiration. The "College Man" and "The Flapper" became the new icons of all that was young and fashionable. Women in particular began dieting to mold their bodies into a slimmer, flatter teenage shape and dress waistlines dipped to hip length to minimize the appearance of adult curves. The Brassiere, in breast flattening styles, replaced corsets almost completely.

What People Wore Back in 1920's

The 1920s a Cloche and Flapper decade and More -- Their were two of the fashions that are often associated with the 1920s. The cloche hat and the flapper dress. The cloche hat of the 1920s evolved from the wider-brimmed hats of the decade before, and continued to evolve up until the 1930s and beyond.

The basic description of the Cloche is that it was a very snug-fit hat that was often worn tilted, covering the forehead, allowing room for vision. The hair was often cut short and styled flat to fit under these types of hats. Cloches were often covered the ears as well, and even sometimes the ends of women's short haircuts of the time. Often the flapper and the cloche were worn together, especially during the latter half of the 1920s.

The flapper dress was actually more of a representation of a total style than just the actual dress. One distinction of this type of dress was that it was basically a straight and loose style of dress.

Throughout the 1920s decade the length of the flapper dress varied a little. In the early 1920s the length of dresses and skirts were about calf length, with some a little longer and some a bit shorter.

From approximately the years 1926 to 1928 the hem lines of dresses were the shortest, and this is what most people remember when they talk of the 1920s flapper dress. During this short period of time dress hem lines where up to the knees (approximately).

During part of this decade the waist line of dresses dropped to the hip to promote more of a boyish look. By the early 1930s the waist line of dresses rose back up to its normal waist line position.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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