The 1920s wasn't by definition 'bright and young' in fact the colours of the twenties were dull on the whole, with Beige establishing itself as a word in the dictionary. When colour choice was brighter they gravitated towards shades of tango, orange, cerise, and jade green. A general consensus thought that temperament should be taken into account when choosing colours (e.g. green for the nervous, blue for the hopeless, and jade to inspire).
After the Great War women had found themselves taking the place of the many young men that had not returned. Their arms and legs became bare, giving the impression of youthful carefreeness, they also started to cut their hair like a boy's - bobbed, shingled or cropped. In 1926 a fad existed having both men and women wearing dinner jackets in the evening made by men's tailors. Shortly after there was a period in 1927-1929 when it was fashionable to attend an evening party with a hemline short at the front and long at the back. Having the hemline jump up again to the knee and slowly rose to just above the knee for day wear in 1931. In 1929 came the Wall Street Slump and economic hardship. Though after much pressure from design houses, longer skirts came back into fashion. Ranging from 15" from the floor for travellers to floor length for the evening, and also sports wear being interchangeable for daywear. With the afternoon dress the most important as it could be wore into the evenings increasingly popular "cocktail" hour. Having most girls of the thirties owning a black shiny satin cocktail dress. Though dresses had been made in more vigorous colours: lettuce green (Vionnet), citron yellow (Patou), sky-blue and shocking pink (Schiaparelli). Women are now cultivating an elegant, mature appearance in their wardrobes leaving the boyish look behind. Their hair grew again and for a time it became more fashionable to be in the process of growing it then to have it at the desired length. To rely on dress makers or yourself to copy new frocks in the 30s was notoriously difficult as they were mostly bias cut and sewn up in sections that hugged the figure. Even with a pattern the bias cut required expert workmanship. Schiaparelli introduced the square padded shoulders as it was so important to appear slim, they eventually became squarer and then sleeves from any and every period were borrowed. |
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