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The 30s

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The Great Depression was a calamity of unprecedented scope. "The Dirty Thirties," "The Winter Years," "The Bitter Thirties," "Ten Lost Years" - the book titles say it all. Canadians who depended on export markets to sell their agricultural, mining, forestry and fishing products soon felt the pain of falling prices and profits, tightening credit and growing unemployment.

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Go to Snapshots and then America in the 20s and America in the 30s

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EyeWitness to History - history through the eyes of those who lived it

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First hand accounts, illustrated with vintage photos, original radio broadcasts.

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J.E. Hoover

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While at the university he was the student manager of both the baseball and football teams and was a part of the inaugural Big Game versus rival the University of California and friend (Cal Manager) Herbert Lang. Only 10,000 tickets were printed for the inaugural game and 20,000 people showed up.

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Prohibition

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Prohibition in the United States - Wikipedia

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Great Depression

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The Great Depression (1929–1939) was an economic shock that affected most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States.[1] The economic contagion began around September 1929 and led to the Wall Street stock market crash of 24 October (Black Thursday). It was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century.[2]

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Roaring Twenties

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The Roaring Twenties was the period in Western society and Western culture that occurred during and around the 1920s. It was a period of sustained economic prosperity with a distinctive cultural edge in the United States and Western Europe, particularly in major cities such as Berlin, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, and Sydney.

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Flappers

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Flappers

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Flapper Fashion - 1920s Fashion History

Socio economic changes that occurred during the First World War 1914-18 and became accepted, changed the role of women in a way that no amount of campaigning by a few liberated ladies could have achieved.

The costume history image in our minds of a woman of the 'Roaring Twenties' is actually likely to be the image of a flapper. Flappers did not truly emerge until 1926. Flapper fashion embraced all things and styles modern. A fashionable flapper had short sleek hair, a shorter than average shapeless shift dress, a chest as flat as a board, wore make up and applied it in public, smoked with a long cigarette holder, exposed her limbs and epitomised the spirit of a reckless rebel who danced the nights away in the Jazz Age.

The French called the flapper fashion style the 'garçonne'.

High fashion until the twenties had been for the richer women of society. But because construction of the flapper's dress was less complicated than earlier fashions, women were much more successful at home dressmaking a flapper dress which was a straight shift. It was easier to produce up to date plain flapper fashions quickly using flapper fashion Butterick dress patterns. Recorded fashion history images after the twenties do reflect what ordinary women really wore rather than just the clothing of the rich.

The flapper fashion style flourished amid the middle classes negating differences between themselves and the truly rich, but continuing to highlight some differences with the really poor. The really rich still continued to wear beautifully embellished silk garments for evening, but the masses revelled in their new found sophistication of very fashionable flapper clothes. Find flapper costumes at the Halloween Costumes store.

New students of costume history often mistakenly assume that all dresses day and evening were short in every year of the twenties and that flappers were the only fashion style of the twenties. Dress and coat lengths were actually calf length and quite long for most of the decade. Shortness is a popular misconception reinforced by the availability of moving film of the Charleston dance which shows very visible knees and legs on the dancing flappers.

Skirts only revealed the knee briefly between 1926 and 1928, and this was the only period when evening dresses were short in line with day dress lengths. This was the flapper fashion era.

From 1913 the hemline had begun to show a little ankle.

Between 1916 and 1929 hemlines rose steadily, faltered then rose again.

In 1918 skirt lengths were just below calf length.

Calf length loose dresses circa 1918 compared with those of 1920 where the waist has shown a definite drop, but the length remains steady around the calf area.

In 1919 skirt lengths were calf length.

Between 1920 and 1924 skirts remained calf length with fluctuations of an inch or two according to garment style. Skirts were actually still rather long, but were designed to confuse.

The Elusive Hemline of the 1920s.

Gradually by degrees the skirt lengths on dresses gave the illusion of being first long and then shorter with dipping, scalloped and handkerchief hemlines in floating fabrics. It was only in 1925 that skirts rose 14 to 16 inches (45 to 50 cm) from the ground making the shorter hemline we associate with the era.

1923-4, 1925, 1926

Here we can see examples of the most elusive hemline in fashion history in the 1920s. For more picture and drawing examples scroll to the link list at the bottom of this page.

By 1926 skirts were at their shortest in the Twenties decade and showed the knee until 1928. The whole leg as far as the kneecap was revealed this was the height of flapper fashion.

By 1929 uneven hems and asymmetric skirt hemlines again helped the transition to longer skirts. Longer sheer overskirts and semi sheer top skirts were worn over shorter linings. By 1930 the hemline was several inches below the knee.

If you are interested in seeing modern versions of flapper fashion then look here.

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 emphasised 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 emphasised a flattened chest and womanly curves were eliminated as the line became more simplified.

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 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.

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.

Underwear was minimal, sheer and lightweight. Women wore cami-bockers (directoire knickers and chemise) or cami-knickers or knickers and a petticoat. I have seen some searches for these as director knickers so let's be clear the term is directoire.

Right - 1920's modern underwear

Although the 1950s are thought of as the first time of the teenager and the 1960s as the era when the young first led fashion, there is no doubt that the possession of a youthful body was a prerequisite of twenties flapper fashion.

The arms were bared not only for evening, but also for day and the legs were covered in beige stockings visible to the knee which gave an overall more naked look than ever before. Just as young women of today, a hundred years later go bare legged in Gladiator sandals, the young and fashionable woman of the 1920s also paid attention to her legs and footwear. Until the end of World War I she always wore black wool stockings. Feet, ankles and calves formerly hidden and encased in black stocking were suddenly on show. The fashion for wearing black stockings continued until 1918.

By the 1920s stockings with patterns were hot fashion items. Embroidery snaked around the ankles and up to the knees. Flesh and soft pastel colours were popular and they were made in either silk or artificial silk known as art silk later called rayon. The rayon stockings were very shiny so girls powdered their legs to dull them before venturing out. Names of stocking colours were Honey Beige, Teatime, Rose Morn, Boulevard and Spanish Brown. Lastex, a rubber based thread was used in knee highs in bright colours.

The great fashion designer Gabrielle Chanel 1883-1971 self styled herself to be known as Coco Chanel. By 1920 the silhouette of her clothing designs have come to be the epitome of 20's style. The work of other famous designers beside hers seemed old fashioned and outmoded belonging as they did to the pre World War One era.

She promoted the styles we associate with flappers. She worked in neutral tones of beige, sand, cream, navy and black in soft fluid jersey fabrics cut with simple shapes that did not require corsetry or waist definition. They were clothes made for comfort and ease in wear making them revolutionary and quite modern. She was the Jean Muir or Donna Karan of her day and the originator of the LBD - that little black dress.

Left - Coco Chanel sporting short hair wearing one of her simple jersey outfits and revealing bare arms and flesh toned stockings.

The 1920s saw a universal fashion for short hair a more radical move beyond the curtain styles of the war era. Hair was first bobbed, then shingled, then Eton cropped in 1926-7. An Eton crop was considered daring and shocked some older citizens, since hair had always been thought a woman's crowning glory. Only maiden aunts and elderly dowagers avoided the severe shorter styles, but by the 1930s softer waved hairstyles were a refreshing change.

Sketches of the changes to the soft Bobbed hairstyle of 1922 to the severe Eton Crop of 1926. See more photographs of 1920s hairstyles

Hairstyles circa 1922, 1925,1925,1926

Go to this superb book link on Art Deco Hair

Women wore cloche hats throughout the twenties. A cloche hat told everyone that you had short hair. It was only possible to get a close fitting cloche on the skull if the hair was cropped short and flat. The cloche hat affected body posture as it was pulled well over the eyes which meant young women held their heads at a specific angle in order to see where they were going. Foreheads were unfashionable in the 1920s.

During the era there was an increased use of make up and it was fashionable to perform the rites of make up in public. Instead of disappearing to the powder room women got out their engraved compact and applied lipstick and powder in sight of a whole restaurant or nightclub or tearoom. Ox blood lipstick was used lavishly, but rouge was still used sparingly. Today compacts from the 1920s are sought after by collectors.

Coats of the 1920s were mostly long until 1926. They all seemed to have one thing in common in that almost all illustrations of them show them as wrap-over whatever the length.

Right - 1920's Wrapover coats.

The 1920s coats often wrapped to just one side fastening which was a feature of the garment. The coat fastening was either a huge button or some complex tab and buckle.

Many coats had shawl fur collars. A fashion for coordinating coat linings with dress fabrics started at this time.

T-bar shoes with buckles and bows and straps featured in the 1920s.

The Mary Jane ankle strap button shoe was the style of the twenties.

Footwear was visible beneath short dresses and was selected with more care as a fashion accessory.

Once shoes began to be mass manufactured in the 1920s footwear became an essential fashion accessory. Now it was truly visible beneath shorter dresses it needed to be selected with more care. Heels were over 2 inches high and waisted until the 1930s when they were lower straighter Cuban shapes. Strapped shoes were called Mary Janes. T-bar shoes or others with buckles and bows made interesting fashion statements. Sequin or diamante trims were quite usual.

In the 1930s shoes began to look heavier, but the toes were less pointed and more rounded, often of peep style. In 1936 Ferragamo the Italian shoe designer made wedge heel designs and by the 1940s, chunkier wedged platform shoes with thicker soles made the wearers feel they could walk for miles if needed.

For more images on 1920s go to:-

Chanel had introduced the world to the jumper and it was worn by both men and women. Knitted garments for men really took off in the twenties and women eagerly wore the same knits too. Fair Isle patterns became very popular for both sexes.

Free from corsetry and wearing simplified clothing modern women were able to indulge in sports. Soon swimming, golf and tennis along with keep fit were the passions of young ladies. Shorts became acceptable wear for cycling and for skating normal dresses were roomy enough for movement. The fashionable modern women of the twenties unlike their Edwardian laced and boned mothers truly belong to the twentieth century.

Ebooks

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Flapper Fashion 1920s C20th Fashion History

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Socio economic changes that occurred during the First World War 1914-18 and became accepted, changed the role of women in a way that no amount of campaigning by a few liberated ladies could have achieved. The costume history image in our minds of a woman of the 'Roaring Twenties' is actually likely to be the image of a flapper.

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Edison

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Edison After Forty: The New Technical World

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A look at Edison's reactions to technological change.

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Jazz

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Filmmaker Ken Burns tells the story of jazz - the quintessential American art form. The 10-part series follows the growth and development of jazz music from the gritty streets of New Orleans to the Lincoln Gardens on Chicago's south side, where Louis Armstrong first won fame, from Prohibition-era speakeasies to the wide-open clubs of Kansas City, from the elegant Roseland Ballroom in Times Square, where only whites were allowed to dance, to the more egalitarian Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, where people of all colors mingled.

Six years in the making, Jazz features 75 interviews, more than 500 pieces of music, 2,400 still photographs and more than 2,000 archival film clips - many rare and never before seen. Third-person voices are provided by Samuel L. Jackson, Delroy Lindo, Derek Jacobi and Harry Connick Jr., among others.

Read A Note from Ken Burns

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Filmmaker Ken Burns tells the story of jazz - the quintessential American art form. The 10-part series follows the growth and development of jazz music from the gritty streets of New Orleans to the Lincoln Gardens on Chicago's south side, where Louis Armstrong first won fame, from Prohibition-era speakeasies to the wide-open clubs of Kansas City, from the elegant Roseland Ballroom in Times Square, where only whites were allowed to dance, to the more egalitarian Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, where people of all colors mingled.

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Radios

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Entertainment Before the Movies | American Experience | PBS

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What did Americans do for entertainment before filmmaking technology existed?

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Life in the 20s

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Since Adobe no longer supports Flash Player, certain features have been removed from our website. Downloads are still available for all images found online and the content shall remain available despite the absence of the Media Player. More information.

We are currently redesigning the Online collections pages.
We are looking forward to welcome you!

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Since Adobe no longer supports Flash Player, certain features have been removed from our website. Downloads are still available for all images found online and the content shall remain available despite the absence of the Media Player. More information. We are currently redesigning the Online collections pages.

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The Untouchables Trailer

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Early movies

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The Early History of Motion Pictures | American Experience | PBS

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Several inventors came up with a simple toy that made it possible for a series of pictures to be viewed in rapid succession, creating the illusion of motion.