1. Fashion in the 1920s

2. 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 woman’s undergarments consisted of a corset, corset cover, camisole, a pair of drawers, cotton petticoats, and flannel petticoats. 13

3. 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

4. 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.
Women’s 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. 11

5. 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.

6. Feminine Liberation Movement and the 19th Amendment
The ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920 was a large leap forward for Women’s 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.

7. 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.

8. Advancements in the textile and garment industries
With the garment industry becoming increasingly industrialized, rapidly evolving women’s 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.

9. 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.

10. Fashion Magazines

11. 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, the Stock Market crashes

12. 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

13. 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

14. Flapper Fashion
The Symbol of the Roaring Twenties, the Flapper, emerged in 1926 and embodied the decade’s 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.

15. Flappers 4 5

16. Works Cited
American Cultural History
American Vintage Blues: History of Fashion
Fashion Forward: The History of 20th Century Women’s Clothing.
The Twenties : A Biography of America
The 1920s: Fashion, Style,Women.2003.
Thomas, Pauline Weston. Flapper Fashion 1920s. C20th Fashion History.
"1920s in fashion." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
“1920s Fashion”. The History of the Americas.
1920s Women’s Fashion Articles.