Have you ever been to a Roaring 20s party? Would you know what to wear if you were asked to dress for that era?
To dress for a particular era, I like to think about who lived in that era and what was going on around them. World War I had ended, women had just obtained the right to vote, and automobiles had just made an appearance. People felt free-spirited and just wanted to have fun. It must have been an exciting time to be alive.
The Roaring 20s were a time of rebellion. Young women broke away from the Victorian image of what it meant to be female. They did away with their corsets and started to wear slinky knee-length dresses. They smoked, drank, and danced. The changes in fashion at the time were sudden and shocking.
The whole idea of the “flapper” look was about dressing to dance to jazz music. Clothing was trimmed down, and layers of clothing were shed, all with the goal of making movement easier. Women tightly wound their chests with strips of cloth in order to appear flatter. The long hair of the previous era was cut short into a bob. Some wore a shingle cut which was even shorter, flattened down with a curl on each side of the face.
So to dress for the Roaring 20s, here are some era-appropriate costume ideas:
- Fringed skirts
- Straight dresses with no waistline
- Thigh high fishnet stockings
- Flapper headband with feather
- Beads, pearls, or boa
- If you have long hair, try a bob wig.
- Cigarette holder.
What about men during this time?
- Hair parted in the middle and slicked back.
- Straw hats or felt fedoras.
- Suit with wide stripes, narrow waist, and wide trouser bottoms
- Bold and colorful tie
- Wing-tipped shoes.
The Roaring 20s must have been a fun time to be alive. Have fun dressing the part!