1920's Fashion

I followed Alice down the rabbit hole again – simply asking myself the question, How would I describe fashion of the day when crowds of people came to see the circus?

In my novel, Cat Skinner, my father Webb Bateman and his brother Ray join the circus at the ages of fourteen and sixteen. (Yes, they really did).

I found part of the answer to my question at a wonderful website, Fashion-Era. http://www.fashion-era.com/index.htm. It contains pages of fashion history, costume history, clothing, fashions and social history. I couldn’t resist capturing some tidbits about women’s fashion in the 1920’s.

It was 1925, the year Webb and Ray were roustabouts, that women’s hemlines, if they kept up with fashion, went up 14-16 inches from the ground to mid-calf! It wasn’t until 1926-27, the hemline inched up to the knee and in the following years dropped back down again. We think of the roaring twenties as the decade of short skirts and flapper dresses, but in fact, short skirts were short-lived. Here’s more from Fashion-Era

The Masculine Silhouette of 1920's Females

After the First World War (1914-18) when women's dress became more mannish, each year seemed to get more severe in line which almost emphasized the feminine woman beneath. Female clothes became looser and more shapeless in fit. The bust was suppressed, the waist disappeared, the shoulders became broader and hair shorter and shorter.  Narrow boyish hips were preferred.  The silhouette emphasized a flattened chest and womanly curves were eliminated as the line became more simplified.

The Flat Chest of the Twenties

The slender flat-chested tanned body and face of a 15 year old became the desired silhouette of the bright young things of the 1920s.  Health and beauty clubs helped women refine their silhouettes whilst getting fitter and healthier.

It was a difficult time for the former matrons of Edwardian society, the previous leaders of fashion whose style of dressing became as passé as their rounded figures and older faces.  More youthful women who could party all night and carry the boyish fashions well were all the rage. 

The 1920's Bra

The bras of the early 20s include home made ones in white cotton and which were little more than bust bodices with extra separation.  Some purchased bras were like camisoles and they offered no support.

Big busted girls turned to bandaging their breasts flat, but many adopted the Symington Side Lacer, a bra that could be laced at both sides and pulled and pulled in to flatten the chest.

For young ladies with youthful figures a satisfactory bra was the four sectioned lace bandeau bra, lined in net.  None of the bras gave much shape, but few ladies were seeking anything more than stopping the bust from wobbling. As long as they looked boyish they looked fashionable.

By the 1930s Triumph, Maidenform, Gossard, Warner Brothers, Spirella, Twilfit and Symingtons were all making bras that did the job of separating the breasts. At the same time it was finally acknowledged that women had differing cup sizes and bra sales doubled with the new designs.

Girdles and Underwear

Between 1920 and 1928 corset sales declined by two thirds, but it adapted to changing needs.  Fast flappers refused to wear corsets and rolled their stockings to the knee to enable them to dance easily.  Long Corsets produced the boyish figure, but instead of thick boned corsets many women preferred thin elastic webbing Lastex girdles that flattened the abdomen.  Suspenders were attached to the girdles.

Note: Some of us can appreciate the fact that 40 years later in the 1960's we were still wearing Latex girdles with garters to hold up our nylons!