In 1915 , two old age before the United States became involved in World War I , H.L. Mencken introduced the Christian Bible " flapper " into popular media . The terminal figure traces back to British jargon for a teenage girl , but Mencken domesticize it with more specificity . Writing for the literary magazine , " The Smart Set , " he account a raw sort of distaff identity go forth in the United States : awomanwho devour medicine , literature and periodical voraciously , taking her cue for behavior and panache from the medium in front of her , rather than the moral code of decorum [ seed : Desser and Joweth ] . When Mencken published this essay , " The Flapper , " American woman were still a ten away from the stifle - length clothes and bobbed coiffure that would characterize the quintessential flapper look , but he clearly recognized the shifting posture in new women and their thirst for worldly knowledge that would eventually fuel the flapper fashion and sensibility .
During the 1910s , though , the delicate Gibson Girl epitomise the feminine ideal . create by illustrator Charles Dana Gibson , Gibson Girls swept their farseeing fuzz into wanton , lovely up - dos . waistline were cinch withcorsets , conforming silhouettes to the Edwardian S - curvature torso shape ( accentuating bosoms and hips ) , and hemline brushed the level while necklines tickled the throat . But as the decade drew to a close , the stifled Gibson Girl found the impulsion to loosen up a trivial and let her pilus down – or cut it all off in high-pitched flapper elan .
World War I and the 1918 Flu Pandemic that follow kill about 60 to 80 million citizenry around the world combined [ reservoir : Sagert ] . In addition to the far-flung losses , the War also shake up grammatical gender dynamics on the domicile front . With millions of doughboys shipping out – many of whom would never turn back home – women were left to pick up the quagmire stateside , open up more work prospects , alongside broadening educational opportunity . Rather than pursuing the domestic life , more young fair sex began entering college andemigratingfrom rural areas to the big city . Shrugging off the straitlaced era restriction site on cleaning woman , a New Woman emerge , jostle for the right to vote and agitating for the earlyfeministcause [ source : Lavender ] .
Then , in 1920 , with the post - War economy booming and the United States back on its feet , a feisty , more apolitical offshoot of the New Woman was born : the flapper . And for a decade , those debauchee gals would Charleston , chemise and tango around speakeasies and dancehalls , break every ladylike principle in the book .
Ain’t We Got Fun: Flappers in the 1920s
Although flapper were more concerned about style and playfulness - seeking than government legislation , Washington D.C. represent an entire role in fix the cultural look for the Roaring ' 20s by ordain the eighteenth and nineteenth Amendments in 1920 . Ratified in January of that twelvemonth , the 18th Amendment , also recognize as the Volstead Act , illegalize the cut-rate sale ofalcoholand kick off theProhibitionera . Of course , lawfully banning alcohol only drove it to the subway , with covert bar called speakeasies springing up in urban center across the country – as many as 100,000 in New York City – fully stocked withbathtub gin[source : National Archives ] . Then in August , the 19th Amendment pay the New Women and their flapper cohorts the right hand to vote . With that fresh exemption and recognition , morewomenbegan to eliminate the Victorian code of obligatory piousness and domestication . The home , in fact , was the last place many flappers care to be , and for that reason , the vehicle that really drove flapper acculturation into high-pitched gear was the car [ source : Mental Floss ] .
railcar possession during the twenties soared , from 6.8 million American automobile owner in 1919 to 122 million in 1929 [ source : Sagert ] . Just as thebicyclehad previously provide women with a form of expatriation emancipation , the railroad car became the flapper ’s golden ticket off the homestead and into metropolis life-time . The accessibility of cars spurred the amorous transition from calling on a girl at her firm to deal her out on a date . Naturally , older people wrung their hands at the physical interaction that could occur in an automobile , but they could n’t put thebrakeson the four - wheeled trend . And as early as 1922 , etiquette maven Emily Post declare women – and therefore flappers – drive unaccompanied dead appropriate [ source : Gourley ] .
If these socially liberated flappers had adopt a mantra , it would probably be these lyric from a pop twenties fox-trot : " Ev’ry first light , ev’ry evening / Ain’t we receive fun ? " While New Women and their suffragette predecessors may have been more socially and politically minded , flappers made social and political statements unknowingly as they challenge the gender average with their actions . Flappers openly smoked cigarettes and drank alcoholic drink – two activeness reserved only formenby Victorian standards . The fact that they wear makeup also flagrantly violate rule of correctitude , since at the time rouge and other cosmetics were link with whore and depleted - class actress .
Of course , flapper demand some melodic musical accompaniment for their speakeasy antic , saltation parties and dates . Although they might venture out to jazz clubs to love hot medicine , 1920 marked a milestone that gave them more choice . That year , the first public radio program broadcast out of station KDKA in Pittsburgh , and by 1924 , more than 600 commercial channel had sprouted around the land [ origin : PBS ] . Radio was only one representative of the mass media boom that influenced flapper finish . American language cluster to the movies by the gazillion , and girls could see the flapper facial expression and modus vivendi glamorized on the silver grey screen . Also in 1920 , Olive Thomas starred in " The Flapper , " but Clara Bow ’s 1922 movie debut in " Beyond the Rainbow " cemented the iconic flapper look . Hollywood tabloid write eternal photos of Bow ’s bobbed and shingled hairsbreadth and rouge pout , fostering a new celebrity culture , as well as popularizing the flapper style in the United States .
Off - CRT screen , one dyad embodied this madcap earned run average , also know as the Jazz historic period : F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald . The couple married soon after the 1920 publication of " This Side of Paradise , " which made F. Scott and his 19 - yr - old flapper married woman into home renown . The media fever the hotel - hopping and Champagne-Ardenne - guzzling pair attracted reflected a switching away from societal issues toward human interest . For instance , magazines such as Saturday Evening Post and Colliers began write more profile stories than ever before [ source : Zeitz ] . bask in her newfound fame as America ’s literal - life " It " girl , Zelda Fitzgerald eagerly play the role of the ultimate fun - seeking , drink , smoke and stylish flapper .
Cloche Hats & Eton Crops: Flapper Fashion and Hairstyles
Glamorous Zelda Fitzgerald and her arresting flapper contemporaries get out behind a bequest of manner . Whereas the straight-laced silhouette hyperbolize the womanly hourglass shape , flapper fashion swung the other way by transfigure the schoolboyish pattern . With French intriguer Coco Chanel leading the style , waistlines relaxed and drop off , andcorsetsbecame a bygone wardrobe relic . easy lingerie calledstep - insreplaced tight - tied corsetry , andminimizing brassiereskept curves under wrap [ source : Gourley ] . release - like shift dress became the flapper uniform , and the simplistic design allowedwomenof all socioeconomic rung to make their own and persist on - trend . Flappers literally walked around lighter than straitlaced epoch char , considering , for deterrent example , that the median flapper dress consisted of around 7 yards of fabric , compared to 20 G for a prudish gown [ source : Gourley ] .
Despite the popular notion that flapper hemline quickly rise above knee - level and stayed there throughout the twenty , that ’s revisionist style history . In actuality , the typical flapper work shift dropped down to mid - calf , and only inched up above the genu from 1926 to 1928 [ source : Thomas ] . Those three years represented the climax of flapper manner , with brave women sporting shorter dresses to better hold vivify dance styles , including the Charleston , Fox Trot and Black Bottom . In extra to bared ankles and calf , flapper also put their bare arms on exhibit , often dress up raw wrists with multiple watchstrap . Long strand of off-white or pendent necklaces accentuated the long , straight dividing line of Art Deco - influence flapper shifts [ source : Jailer - Chamberlain ] . And while these dresses were easier for lower and middle form women to whip up at home , wealthy flapper nevertheless fend out with fine silks , georgette and lamé , as well as lavish beadwork and embroidery bedazzling their finery .
The Jazz Age was also the era when women traded in their black woolen stocking for sheerer hose . Many flapper also rolled down their hose , resembling improvised knee joint - highs . And rather than boring black hosiery , flappers sprang for form and pastels , transform hose into a mode accoutrement rather than a mere undergarment [ source : Jailer - Chamberlain ] . T - shoulder strap and buckled heels – not too high to prevent saltation , however – were the preferent footgear .
The tightest item a flapper would in all probability ill-use out of the house in would be her must - havecloche hat . The flimsy brim of these close-fitting - correspond hats covered the os frontale , and the shape advertised the flapper ’s near - crop hairdo . Indeed , flappers had no desire for long tress and soft Gibson Girl up - DO . In yet another rising against their prissy foremother , flappers imitate their silver screen idols like Louise Brooks and chopped their coif into bob . The especially short Eaton crop was all the rage , and women would also implement pomade to their whisker to sleek it even nearer their scalp [ source : Gourley ] .
But the American economy went south much faster than it took to grow out those cheeky bobber . Thestock marketcrash on October 29 , 1929 , of a sudden silence the celebratory bellowing of the ' 20s . Financial flop also signaled the end of the flapper era , as Americans faced widespread unemployment and poverty . Nevertheless , the legacy of those brazen , rule - break flappers rest one of the most iconic chapters in adult female ’s and fashion history .
