Fashion in the 1920s

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Fashion in the 1920s
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The Edwardian Silhouette

• The Edwardian Fashion Era immediately preceded
  the 1920s.
• The S-Shaped corset provided women with the
  desired look of a large Monobosom and a 16 inch
  waist.
• An Edwardian womans undergarments consisted of a
  corset, corset cover, camisole, a pair of
  drawers, cotton petticoats, and flannel
  petticoats.

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Factors that lead to the reforms of fashion in
the 1920s

• World War I
• Newfound buying power in the Roaring Twenties
• Feminine Liberation Movement and the 19th
  amendment

• Prohibition
• Advancements in the textile and garment
  industries
• Ready-to-wear fashion
• Fashion Magazines

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World War I

• During the War, women entered the workforce to
  fill jobs left open by soldiers. After the war
  women continued to work outside of the home.
• Womens fashions were altered to suit the
  workforce. Constrictive undergarments, such as
  whalebone corsets, were abandoned to allow for an
  ease of movement.
• Also with the lack of men due to the war and its
  aftermath, women began wearing more alluring
  clothing to attract a husband.

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Newfound buying power in the Roaring Twenties

• Economic prosperity of the Roaring Twenties
  allowed more women access to luxurious clothing.
• More woman began buying their clothing as opposed
  to making them themselves.

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Feminine Liberation Movement and the 19th
Amendment

• The ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920
  was a large leap forward for Womens Rights.
• Women soon began wearing loose pantsuits called
  pajama suits, a direct result of the newly
  gained right to vote and the strong cries for
  further female empowerment.

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Prohibition

• Due to Prohibition, drinking took place in the
  home and women became included in drinking.
• Women soon began drinking in public at
  Speakeasies.
• This new social freedom was matched in fashion
  with new styles that were more scandalous,
  revealing, and freeing.

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Advancements in the textile and garment industries

• With the garment industry becoming increasingly
  industrialized, rapidly evolving womens styles
  were more available to those of lower economic
  standing, the new luxurious styles were available
  to the middle class, as opposed to just the
  economic elite.

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Ready-to-wear fashion

• Because clothing was now easily manufactured,
  stores began selling clothing, carrying outfits
  in a variety of sizes to fit almost any customer.
• Because Women were more frequently buying their
  clothing as opposed to making it, the style was
  dictated by fashion magazines.

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Fashion Magazines
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Fashion Timeline

• 1891- Artificial silk created in France from a
  cellulose fiber
• 1910- first American plant begins producing the
  new synthetic silk
• 1923- Waistline drops to a point between the
  natural waist and the hip
• 1924- Waistline drops to the hip, synthetic silk
  is named Rayon
• 1925- shift types dresses with no waist emerge
• 1926- "One Hour dress" designed
• 1928- hemline rises to the knee, also dresses
  become more fitted
• Oct. 24, 1929- the Stock Market crashes

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Characteristics of 1920s Fashion

• Loose-fitting clothing
• Dropped, loose waistlines
• Shorter hems on some styles of dresses
• Loose fitting pants for women
• A long, lean, flat-chested silhouette
• An overall androgynous appearance

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The Progression of Style through the Decade

• As the decade proceeded, fashion continued to
  rapidly change.
• Hemlines rose from an inch below the knee to
  knee-length
• Waistlines dropped to the hips and then
  disappeared altogether creating a shift dress

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Flapper Fashion

• The Symbol of the Roaring Twenties, the Flapper,
  emerged in 1926 and embodied the decades modern
  fashion elements such as short sleek hair, a
  short shapeless dress, a flat chest, and exposed
  limbs.
• Flappers had a reputation that added to their
  style as well.
• Flappers smoked from long cigarette holders,
  applied makeup in public, and danced to jazz with
  reckless abandonment of propriety.

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Flappers
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Works Cited

• American Cultural History 1920-1929.
  http//kclibrary.nhmccd.edu/decade20.html
• American Vintage Blues History of Fashion
  1920-1930.
• http//www.vintageblues.com/history2.htm
• Fashion Forward The History of 20th Century
  Womens Clothing. http//www.randomhistory.com/1-
  50/003clothing.html
• The Twenties 1913 -1929 A Biography of America
• http//www.learner.org/biographyofamerica/prog20
  /index.html
• The 1920s Fashion, Style,Women.2003.
• http//doe.sd.gov/octa/ddn4learning/themeunits/1
  920s/style.htm
• Thomas, Pauline Weston. Flapper Fashion 1920s.
  C20th Fashion History.
• http//www.fashion-era.com/flapper_fashion_1920s
  .htm
• "1920s in fashion." Wikipedia, The Free
  Encyclopedia. 2008.Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
  http//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title1920s_i
  n_fashionoldid2245
• 1920s Fashion. The History of the
  Americas. http//www.bookrags.com/research/1920s-f
  ashion-bbbb-02
• 1920s Womens Fashion Articles.
• http//www.oldmagazinearticles.com/women-fashion
  -articles-1920.php