The Fashion of the Roaring 20s by Ava DeLaOssa

The beginning of the 1920s brought a drastic change to women’s fashion. After the First World War and the influenza pandemic, society began to reinvent itself and fashion followed along. Women had secured the right to vote, were more active in society, and therefore their wardrobes needed to be able to move along with them in the fast moving Jazz Age. 

The most defining change to fashion of the decade was the embrace of a boyish and tubular silhouette. Curves in fashion were completely out and straight lines were now in. Women discarded the high-boned corsets for lightweight, flattening bandeau brassieres. The natural waistline moved to the hips, and hemlines began to climb just below the knee. This structural shift of women’s fashion was not just an aesthetic choice, but allowed women to step effortlessly into automobiles, walk down city streets, and dance without constraint.

The 1920s became an iconic period for fashion with the flapper archetype. A flapper is a young and independent woman whose wardrobe is defined by sleeveless dresses that are covered in hand-stitched glass beads, sequins, and metallic lamé. Strands of faux pearls covered women’s necks, while long silk fringe covered the bottoms of straight dresses.

While the boxy flapper dress dominated the fashion of the nightlife scene, a large alternative came from the house of French couturier, Jeanne Lanvin, the robe de style. The robe de style used the famous drop waistline of the 1920s and had a full, voluminous skirt that was supported by hidden panniers. These dresses were created of silks, taffetas, and fine laces, for a softer clothing option for evening wear. 

Not only did women’s fashion have a radical transformation, but so did women’s hair. They chopped their hair into shorter looks that women often paired with a cloche hat. Women’s fashion in the 1920s was that of a freed woman. Clothing was less form fitting, had more room to move, and became more modern for the drastically changing society.