Flapper Era Fashions: From the Roaring 20s

by Tina Skinner, Lindy McCord

New in our successful collection of books showcasing historical, every day fashions comes an assortment of photographs documenting trends in the mid-1920s. During post-World War I's economic revival, women emerged from an era of corsets, long gowns, and formality to express their independence. Sheath dresses were designed to mimic mannish styles, while hemlines and haircuts were shortened. Even men's suits changed, to include exaggerated shoulders and an emphasis on narrow hips. Children often were dressed to honor recent war heroes. More than 380 beautiful images feature hundreds of clothing styles from the catalogs of Bellas Hess & Company, and The Charles William Stores, Inc. Costume designers seeking to recreate an era, collectors looking for vintage clothing, and fashion designers looking for inspiration for today's looks, will all find something new here.

Genres: Fashion History

160 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2004

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and amusing to browse through, but nothing too absorbing. I love that the images are from actual catalogs from the '20s--it's fun to see the pricing and the way that the ads were worded. However, what's missing the context for the fashions--very little on the evolution of fashion, the cultural reasons for it, leading designers, etc. which I would have liked, too. However, for a purely pictorial representation, this is nice. (Includes more than just women's fashions (which does include hats, gloves, jewelry and a very nifty shoes section)--also men's and children's).

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

“This decade launched the modern cosmetics industry. Flappers wore powder, lipstick, rouge, eyebrow pencil, eye shadow, and had colored nails. The different looks of the period were practically dictated by Coco Chanel. She introduced the simple look of a two-piece suit, cardigan jacket, jersey blouse, and the distinctive look of a single string of pearls.”

[CharlotteReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flapper Era Fashions from teh Roaring '20s is a rich collection of what looks like mostly advertising materials from the 1920s. The breadth of imagery is wide and very useful. Comments and context are limited, however the book does give a solid visual overview of what people were wearing during the Flapper era and this volume gives a better overview than the commonly held misconcpetions of what was period accurate. The book also contains many images of men's and children's fashion, both male and female footwear, day wear and evening wear and a nice selection of a variety of period hats and headgear.