Fashion in the 1920s
"Fashion is one of the greatest forces in present-day life. It pervades every field and reaches every class.… It has always been a factor in human life but never more forceful, never more influential and never wider in scope than in the last decade, and it gives every indication of growing still more important." So with everything in mind, we can really agree with him when he said that it was more than an expression of individual taste; it was instead a statement of group membership, of involvement in the currents of one's time. "To be out of fashion," he wrote, "is, indeed, to be out of the world."
During the decade technology vastly improved which helped spread the word about what people were wearing and driving and how they were decorating their homes or designing their public buildings. Improved communication meant that a large proportion of the general population was exposed to the latest fashion trends and responded, positively or negatively, to them.
During the 1920s the most distinctive clothing styles originated in Europe: in France for women's attire and in England for men's. Coco Chanel was one of the first women designers to adopt the new era of clothing, which meant that she adopted a more boyish look. She replaced the corset with lighter clothing that wasn’t so restrictive.
Throughout the years dresses kept getting shorter and the backs lower. "By 1925 dresses were the shortest in history - an act of the devil, some thought." Many people were so outraged that they passed laws in the states of Ohio and Utah that the hem length of ladies gowns had to be seven inches from the floor but these responses from mature adults simply increased young women's fondness for their short skirts and cosmetics. After all, what fun is it to rebel if nobody notices or cares?
But what are some major reasons for this changes in women fashion? The first one is that after the war women continued to work outside their home, so the clothes had to be altered to allow for an
During the decade technology vastly improved which helped spread the word about what people were wearing and driving and how they were decorating their homes or designing their public buildings. Improved communication meant that a large proportion of the general population was exposed to the latest fashion trends and responded, positively or negatively, to them.
During the 1920s the most distinctive clothing styles originated in Europe: in France for women's attire and in England for men's. Coco Chanel was one of the first women designers to adopt the new era of clothing, which meant that she adopted a more boyish look. She replaced the corset with lighter clothing that wasn’t so restrictive.
Throughout the years dresses kept getting shorter and the backs lower. "By 1925 dresses were the shortest in history - an act of the devil, some thought." Many people were so outraged that they passed laws in the states of Ohio and Utah that the hem length of ladies gowns had to be seven inches from the floor but these responses from mature adults simply increased young women's fondness for their short skirts and cosmetics. After all, what fun is it to rebel if nobody notices or cares?
But what are some major reasons for this changes in women fashion? The first one is that after the war women continued to work outside their home, so the clothes had to be altered to allow for an