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WWI has just ended and the people of America are rejoicing. Women style has been
very uptight and very proper. Women wore floor length dresses, long hair, no make
up and corsets« it was time to break out of the conservative style. The twenties was
all about youth.
It was also the most explosive decade of the century. Jazz music was created and all the
hot celebrities were young and in high fashion. This was the age of prohibition and
the age of prosperity. Some of the major inventions of the time were the automobile,
the radio and the airplane. Some famous people of the twenties were: Herbert
Hoover, Al Capone and Henry Ford. Some of the worlds most amazing literature was
created in the twenties. Some literary artists were F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest
Hemingway and Robert Frost.
When you think of the twenties, jazz music comes to mind. Some of the most amazing
musicians came from the roaring twenties: Bessie Smith, the ´Empress of Bluesµ,
George Gershwin, who created some amazing pieces for Broadway, Hollywood and
Carnegie Hall, and Duke Ellington, The ´King of big jazz bandµ.
Movies were also a big hit in the twenties. Gold Rush, The Kid, The Circus, Dr. Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde and The Jazz Singer are all infamous silent movies from the twenties.

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´Flapperµ first started in Great Britain after WWI. It was used to describe young girls
that were awkward and have not yet entered womanhood. Author F. Scott
Fitzgerald describes flappers as ´Lovely, expensive and about 19µ. He drew the girls
wearing unbuckled galoshes that made a ´flappingµ noise when they walked.
The Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins describes a flapper as a ´Giddy,
attractive, slightly unconventional, somewhat foolish girl full of wild surmises and
inclined to revolt against the precepts and admonitions of her eldersµ.

Flappers had the image and the

attitude to match.

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The life of a flapper was a lot of fun!
It consisted of constant partying.
Flappers smoked cigarettes and
drank alcohol ² all of which were
unheard of if you were a woman!
They lived very reckless lives and
would cling to their youth.
Flappers were the first of the
women to flaunt their sexuality.
Their lifestyles were shown in the
way that they dressed and danced.
 
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Flappers were the first to show off
and get a little crazy in terms of
fashion. They wore heavy make up
with scarlet lips and heavy eye make
up. Before the flappers, only ´looseµ
women wore make up.
Their clothes were a lot different
than those of the past. They usually
wore a dress that went just below
the knee, stockings, heels and step
ins (a one piece suit that was used as
underwear instead of a corset).
The look was created by Coco
Chanel (the world famous Chanel
that we have now) and it was all the
rage.
Women tried to look more like
men in the twenties. They
would tightly wrap their chest
with strips of cloth to flatten it.
They were trying to look
around the age of a 15 year old
boy.
´The tubeµ was a fashion icon.
This was when fashion focused
less on the physical form. The
hemlines dropped to the knees
and the hiplines were lowered.
The ´Tubeµ look was straight
from the shoulders to the hem.
 
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Part Two

The twenties changed the way the world looked

at hair styles. ´The Bobµ is the infamous hair style
that was everywhere in the 20·s.

Most women haircuts were

very short in the back and
20 % longer in the front.

The Cloche Hat was a must during the

day. This was a hat that fit snuggly over
short hair and reached the eyebrows.

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Drinking was a favorite
pastime of the flappers.
Prohibition was in effect, and
the women were breaking
the law. Before this, only
men would drink. The
women were seen as ´Giddy
Flappersµ due to
drunkenness.
Many carried a flask, which
was extremely unheard of ²
even for men!
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Dancing was a flappers favorite
pastime. They would dance the
Charleston, Black Bottom and the
Shimmy.
The May 1920 edition of Atlantic
Monthly said that ´flappers trot
like foxes, limp like lame ducks,
one step like cripples, and all the
barbaric lawp of strange
instruments which transform the
whole scene into a moving
picture of a fancy ball in
bedliamµ.
´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 petting parties. She was giddy
and took risks. She was a flapper.µ

History1900s.about.com/od/1920s/a/flappers.htm
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Anita Page Colleen Moore Louise Brooks

www.silentladies.com