1920s Fashion: A Brief Overview

1920s fashion has seen a recent revival of interest and ignited contemporary designers imaginations again, thanks to recent films such as The Great Gatsby and everybody's favourite Downton Abbey! Here's a brief overview of 1920s fashion that we put together for our book Wearable Vintage Fashion.

The women’s Suffrage movement of the early 1900s encouraged the new generation of liberated, young women to cast off their corsets, shake off the stuffy formality of their parents' Victorian and Edwardian era and embrace life after the tragedy and uncertainty of the war years.

Social, political and economic changes following the First World War were the reasons for significant transformations in attitudes and style, and it could be argued that the Twenties witnessed the first ever youth movement. It was the era of Art Deco which dominated all aspects of design including fashion and jewellery. Designers indulged in the new, modernist shapes and patterns.

It was a revolutionary time for women's fashion but it didn't happen over night, it began slowly and as with most innovations in fashion, started with high end fashion houses pioneering new designs. Coco Chanel is credited with transforming high society women at this time with her use of jersey materials, trousers and abolishing the corset. 'Sports wear' became popular everyday fashion as society seemed to relax its formality and previous conventions after the war. It was the birth of modern fashion as we know it. 

A wonderful photo depicting many icons of 20s fashion: cloches, fur, shorter length dresses and casual knitted drop-waist cardigan jackets, and a classic example of men's sportswear look

Chanel’s fashion message of the importance of looking effortlessly stylish soon caught on and by the mid Twenties, the lines between social classes blurred for the first time in fashion history. What most people think of as the classic 20s look: the short bobbed hair, knee length dresses and cloches were universal for all ages and social sets. The cloche hats themselves required the shorter bobbed hair-do in order to wear them successfully. 

1920s Summer daywear: dress and straw cloche from Worcestershire Costume Archive.
The stripy dress is very similar to the one in the photo above!

From this new breed of liberated, independent minded women, an androgynous fashion trend also transpired, beginning in the upper classes. An even shorter 'Eton crop' hair cut was sported, so named as it resembled a school boy’s hair cut. Wide legged trousers or 'pyjamas' were worn for leisure, on the beach and for sport. Sportswear gained in wider popularity for all. These ‘Bright Young Things’ were trendsetters and were well turned out in daring and decadent looks. Celebrity culture hit the headlines and stylish snaps accompanied salacious stories. 

The Flapper dress is what really epitomizes the popular view of the Twenties and the ethos of the ‘Bright Young Things’. The classic flapper evening dress is knee length, sleeveless, with a drop waist, and is usually heavily beaded or sequined. The Twenties were heavy on the embellishments for evening wear: ladies were keen to be seen. Evening bags were small and beaded, there were also bead fringes on bags and dresses. Fur was everywhere for coats and trimmings for day and night. Coats would quite often have large fur collars and cuffs and the archetypal style was a wrap over coat fastened with one button, just below the waistline.

Original 1920s Flapper dress, opera cape and shoes - note the shape of the curved heel, specific to the 1920s.

A typical 1920s outfit: fur collar coat with one button, original felt cloche and cloche pins, a deco triangle shaped bag