Question

Who was a "flapper"? How did they represent important social changes taking place during the 1920s?

Book: Born of Liberty by Sara M. Evans

Answer 1

Flappers of the 1920s were young women known for their vibrant independence, adopting a lifestyle regarded by many at the time as scandalous, unethical, or outright dangerous. Now considered the first generation of independent American women, the flappers have pushed the barriers to women's economic, political and sexual freedom.In August 1920, with the passage of the 19th amendment, women's equality took another step forward, granting them the right to vote. And in the early 1920s, Margaret Sanger took measures to provide contraceptives for women, starting a surge of women's birth control rights.

Designers like Coco Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli and Jean Patou were in charge of flapper fashion. Jean Patou 's development of knit swimwear and women's sportswear, including tennis apparel, created a freer, more casual look, while Chanel and Schiaparelli's knitwear added no-nonsense lines to women's clothing. Madeleine Vionnet's bias-cut designs (made by cutting fabric against grain) underscored the form of a woman's body in a more realistic way.

The success of movies exploded in the 1920s, although the film versions of flappers were often less permissive than the real world depictions. The first successful flapper film was "Flaming Youth," released in 1923 and starring Colleen Moore, who was soon Hollywood's "go-to" actress to play flappers on screen.

The age of the flapper crashed abruptly on October 29 , 1929, with the stock market crash and the onset of the Great Depression. No one could afford a lifestyle any longer, and the modern age of frugality made the free-wheeling hedonism of the Roaring Twenties seem completely out of touch with harsh new economic realities.