Hi all!
Now that we are in the roaring 20's should be bring back the swingers/flapper dresses? It think its awesome to be in the 20's.
What say you?
Denise
Hi all!
Now that we are in the roaring 20's should be bring back the swingers/flapper dresses? It think its awesome to be in the 20's.
What say you?
Denise
While I wouldn't mind being back in my twenties, I'd rather not be back in the days of prohibition and segregation which eventually ended up in the great depression, thank you.
The outfits of the well-heeled gentry were nice during that time I'll give you that.
When haters hate, I celebrate!
I understand the "Roaring 20's" was the theme at many parties this past New Years' Eve. I can see the theme having limited appeal outside of parties. One of the things to consider about the "Roaring 20's" is many women wrapped their breasts to minimize their "boobs." I cannot see myself going flat chested, i.e., no bra with enhancements.
Unless you're a lot older than you look, I suspect you don't remember the "roaring twenties" and only know what you've seen in movies or on TV or read in books. That's the glamorous part. Many Americans were not well off and were picking cotton or doing other physically taxing jobs. And of course racial segregation was the norm. You are just seeing the rich white folks and even that has been glamorized.
Krisi
A small/flat chest and minimum hips were considered fashionable in the 1920s (as was shorter hair on women), in contrast to the Victorian Era.Originally Posted by Stephanie47
One of my neighbors gave me her dress from the 1920s. It has only been worn a few times. I would love to be able to fit it, but she was very petite when she wore it. I keep it just to remember her. She knew I crossdressed and was very supportive of it.
A trip down memory lane:
50 nostalgic photos of what the world looked like in the 1920s
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/...soI?li=BBnb7Kz
I'm a man. I like being a man. I also love wearing women's clothing. It's my way to show honor, respect and solidarity with them.
Thanks for the pictures, Denice! Loved the French cafe in that first photo. Charming and elegant. Interesting skirt lengths too, "evolution in progress," halfway between the Edwardian ankle length and the more or less "around the knee" lengths that later became standard. Today I guess we'd call it a "midi." It's flattering.
I think I see a glass of red wine in one lady's hand. I can't be sure, but coffee isn't served in a glass (except for Irish coffee in today's America). The French were lucky; they were never burdened by an Eighteenth Amendment. They were too sensible for that. Besides, they had a Great War to get over, which hit them harder than most. Time to celebrate!
I see a lot of adds for "Flapper" fashions. I am seeing it more at clubs as well!
As for flat chested women...that was certainly there...but remember that Mae West ( google her for those too young to remember her) was anything but flat chested.
It seems that there is an interest in dressing up again. One woman I talked to said "Thank God we are having an explosion of femininity, I am so tired of dressing like a man" lmao..I"m not sure "explosion of femininity" is what is happening, but still with the Swing dancing crowd and now the flapper crowd, plus all the retro looks that are all the rage in Europe, we may see more fun clothing options in the future.
Last Saturday night at the bar two of my friends and I celebrated our birthdays. We we have done it before. Played pool, danced, and drank too much. No driving, I walked.
I was the only one in a dress, normal. That is till three girls walked in wearing flapper dresses. Did I mention are was a DJ and we danced the night way, and the hangover was worth it.
No not old enough to remember the 1920s. And do understand the disparities and much more the depression. Not looking forward to Prohibition (for anything for that matter).
It was more the movie aspect and the flapper styles and fashion I was referring to and social aspect of those that could afford it at the time.
In spite of the times the 20's is often remembered for being socially and culturally dynamic and as a time that ushered in changes that had an impact on society. I can see what you meant and agree that was an interesting time. A lot of people point to the Victorian era for the decor and dress but no time in our history was entirely perfect. That can be said for today as well but doesn't mean that these aren't the good old days for somebody.
Every style comes back around, just a little modified.
When referring to "the roaring 20's" it refers to the style and atmosphere of the popular culture of the era, not the real life of the average person.
We think of the Hollywood version of it.
I will buy a new flapper style dress and I will wear it out for an evening.
Have a little fun will ya.
Stop with the party pooper stuff.
Remember, flapper dress means no bra. If you want a boobish figure in one of those dresses, it has to be natural (or surgically augmented), OR, you need to have some forms very well attached. Those dresses let everything shake, rattle and roll, well ahead of the late 50s/early 60s. They were fleeing the restrictive foundation garments of the Victorian era.
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Be all the woman that you can be!
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. . . and now, On With The Show!
Flappers were gals that felt liberated, were scandalous, and pushed against previous barriers. Too, they liked to show a lot of leg.
Hmm, sounds kinda like us!
Women's hemlines began to rise around 1925. By 1927 most young "flappers" were wearing dresses at the knees. I actually have reproductions of Sears catalogs from the 20s. Very interesting stuff.
I like it!
1920s Women's Fashion Flapper.jpg
What bare legs no thanks! lol
The only thing I would want is all women in that era wore nylon stockings. I?m waiting for the day for that to happen, but I fear it?s just a pipe dream. Certain fashions have been known to return. Fingers crossed.
Personally I lover those dresses of the flappers.
Add the boas and the feathered headbands and they are so darn cute. I'd love to have an outfit from that time.
I don't wear women's clothes, I wear MY clothes !
Well, that's not true. Not even close. Many women in the 1920s were living on farms, picking cotton and other crops. Others were living in towns and cities but poor as a church mouse and had no money for nylon stockings.The only thing I would want is all women in that era wore nylon stockings...……..
Movies and TV have glamorized the 1920s but except for the wealthy and socially connected, life was not like that, not even close.
Never has life been so good in this country as right now in 2020.
Krisi
Flapper dresses YES, The 20's no Just the dresses.
Rader
Then considering these to truly being the roaring 2020's and stockings and pantyhose for everyone with their flappers!
well you know it's tempting to think that the twenties was all about flappers and gin mills and Scott and Zelda, but I came of age in the sixties which were supposed to be all about sex and drugs and rock and roll. But for me, it was about being a kid growing up in the country and looking forward to "I-Spy" on Wednesday nights and "The Man From Uncle," and waiting for the next Beatles album to drop. So while we get this message that the twenties was this insane decade long party, I think most people were just going to work and trying to make a living.
There is something to be said for the Roaring 20s. That fashionably flat-chested look with a boyish figure would suit many of us, those who have bodies like that anyway! I might just look good in a "flapper" dress! What fun!
As for those comments about "rich folks," there was money to be made in the 20s, when the stock market soared. As long as you remembered to sell and cash in before October of 1929, and on all accounts before the 24th ("Black Thursday"). With luck you might just make enough profit to carry you through the Depression. Some people did, often those with long Dutch and German names.
Aside from those benefits, from today's viewpoint the 1920s certainly had their drawbacks. It wasn't just a lot of people who were poor back then. Cellphone service was extremely poor, just for starters. Movies with no sound, scratchy phonograph records, cars that went like a slug and handled rotten, even if you could afford one, and were dangerous to crash in, which they often did. No flying down the freeway at 90mph the way half of us do here in Phoenix. No freeways to fly down, come to that! In the 1920s it took ages to get anywhere. As for real flying, forget it! If you wanted a transatlantic vacation it meant several days on an ocean liner. And watch the Bay of Biscay; that's the one place in my life I was ever seasick! No transatlantic flights, unless you could hitch a ride with Lindbergh, and that didn't happen until 1927. (All right, I do know about Alcock and Brown back in 1919.) Want to visit Auntie in Australia? No QANTAS! That was several weeks' sea voyage back in the 1920s. Then there was health care, of course. No antibiotics in the 1920s. If you had a weak immune system you might die from a simple staph infection. No heart, kidney or liver transplants. Lots of other things missing too. I have glaucoma, inherited from my mother. About the only treatment back then was pilocarpine. It did some good, but not enough. If I lived in the 1920s I might be nearly blind by now.
And all those poor women having to pick cotton, as Krisi said. What a tedious job! No wonder they sang songs to relieve the boredom, much as mariners sang sea shanties while they hauled on the halyards and whatnot.
Gonna jump down, turn around, pick a bale of cotton,
Gonna jump down, turn around, pick a bale a day.
Me and my wife can pick a bale of cotton,
Me and my wife can pick a bale a day...
Well, I'm glad my (sadly late) wife never had to pick cotton for a living, and earned enough to buy pantyhose!
I'm sure the 1920s did have some advantages. Apart from gangsterism, there wasn't as much crime as we have now--people didn't lock their doors against burglars as much--and in tougher times I dare say people were more neighborly and helped one another out more. And if travel was slower, a long sea voyage could be relaxing and socially convivial. Not like the rush and stress of flying squashed together in a tin can the way we do today. Even on the road, there was time to read the Burma Shave signs, introduced in 1926.
However, there was always the problem of intolerance. In any age there are always wretched people trying to ban something or restrict something else. In the 1920s it was alcohol. Today it's everything under the sun, from smoking and vaping all the way to mercury thermometers. Everybody used them back the 1920s. Just try getting a classic clinical mercury thermometer today. You have to order it from China! Maybe that's part of what they mean about Chinese medicine being "traditional."
However, it's what people are intolerant of that makes all the difference to us as individuals. Maybe if you're teetotal and have a well-paid job that doesn't call for you to pick cotton--as a doctor, for instance, taking patients' temperatures with a traditional mercury thermometer--you wouldn't mind living in the 1920s. But here's what would really kill all the fun. Considering how intolerant of crossdressing people have been, even within some of our own lifetimes, how bad must genderphobia have been a hundred years ago? It might feel delicious to wear a flapper dress--as long as we could pass, and remain undetected. But if we were detected, what would happen then? Genderphobes would probably run us out of town, tarring and feathering us first! Despite the other kinds of intolerance everyone has to put up with today, as crossdressers we're still better off in the 2020s, folks!
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