Flappers Essay example -- American History Essays

Flappers When one thinks of flappers, the first thing that comes to mind is the image of a woman dressed much like Julie Andrews in Thoroughly Modern Millie, bobbed hair, fringed low-waisted dress, flat-chested and highly made up face. This, though a stereotype is close to the truth. In the 20’s after the first world war women’s roles in society began to change, primarily because they started becoming more independent – both in their dress and action. They started to defy what was considered to be appropriate feminine behavior and along with those actions came new fashions. The sleek, boyish look became popular and women began to wear lower waistlines, higher hemlines, sleeveless dresses that showed off their arms, long strands of pearls and rolled down pantyhose to show their knees. Women who had larger breasts even went so far as to bind them down to fit into the flat-chested ideal of beauty. The â€Å"in† look now was boyish, much in contrast to the feminine big skirted, shirtwaisted dresses of their mothers’ age. Women began to gain the independence and social liberties that men had always possessed, they wanted to physically display their newly gained freedoms. Short hair, first as a bob, later as a slicked down â€Å"shingle† that curled above the ears emphasized the new androgynous look women were trying to obtain. These â€Å"modern† women asserted their independence by going out dancing, moving to the city alone, drinking even during prohibition, flirting and having love affairs. After gaining so much independence in World War I when men were away across the ocean, many women resisted the idea that they should now return to the kitchen, the rise of the flapper came out of this new concept of feminism and... ...elf sufficient, sexy, and powerful were all so appealing to the women who had been oppressed for years in the past that society had to change entirely to accommodate them. Sources http://home.earthlink.net/~rbotti/ Flapper Station, information on flapper culture, ties to sites with pictures of vintage flapper clothing http://www.geocities.com/flapper_culture/ Flapper Culture, first person articles about the age, literary ties in the age and many details about the decade of decadence. http://home.earthlink.net/~dlarkins/slang-pg.htm The Internet Guide to Jazz Age Slang, jazz dictionary for terms like â€Å"applesauce† and â€Å"petting party† Mowry, George Edwin, The Twenties: Fords, Flappers, and Fanatics, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall, 1963 Melman, Billie, Women and the Popular Imagination in the Twenties: Flappers and Nymphs, Macmillan Press, 1988