Flappers

It wasn’t until I began to research historical ideals of beauty that I realized how arbitrary our current idea of beauty actually is.   We are going to investigate the aesthetics of different eras and parts of the world in order to get a better understanding of the malleability of beauty, and to draw inspiration for your own style.

I think the women who brought fashion into the modern era deserve the first post.  I am of course discussing flappers, the young women of the roaring 20’s.  This only seems appropriate also considering that I suggested drawing from flapper style in my previous post. After the horrors of WWI, many young Americans and Europeans lost faith in the values that had previously been the norm.  Much of flapper behavior emerges from rejecting the social expectations of ‘well behaved’ pre-war women. 

Dancing flappers

Flappers were known for driving, having a casual attitude toward sex, drinking, smoking, and being most unladylike.  Their style was just as much a rejection of previous feminine ideals as their behavior.  Hair was kept short in bobs and often gelled into skull tight waves called finger waves.  Flappers wore rounded hats called cloches.  These worked togeter to give them boyish hair.  To achieve a boyish physique, flappers wore loose clothing.  Dresses and skirts typically had a dropped waist to create a straight figure.  While the flapper flipped beauty upside down from a feminine shape to a boyish boxy look, they still had to be sexy, or else they just wouldn’t be controversial enough.  They introduced sex appeal into their boyish looks by wearing skirts that flared up and revealed their legs when they walked or danced.  They even rouged their knees to call attention to their exposed legs. Flappers often wore very low cut or backless but typically sleeveless dresses.  Of course a flapper could not go out on the town without embellishments.  It was the 1920’s—everyone had to be ostentatious.  Their dresses featured geometric beading and sequin patterns as well as fringe.  They often wore long necklaces, and sequined headbands, ornate headpieces, and large fur jackets.  Their makeup was also rather radical for the time, as the modern makeup industry was only just beginning, and heavy makeup was previously only worn by actresses and prostitutes, well behaved woman wanted to be asociated with.  Flappers wore dark eye makeup to achieve a doey eyed look, and plucked their eyebrows very thin, or off entirely and drew thin ones on.  And of course no flapper would be complete without their bow shaped red lips.  In the early 20’s the flapper and her style was considered outrageous and immoral, but by the end of the decade their aesthetic caught on across the nation.  I adore flappers for their rebelliousness and their unique sense of style.  

Clara Bow - Famous actress from the 1920's
sporting flapper style makeup, and short
hair

Finger waves

 

1920's style dress, notice the loose fit, low cut,
and highly ornate beading

One way to achieve the flapper look is to wear flapper makeup.  By today's standards, flapper makeup is very over the top, so you can tone this down, or only utilize elements of it.

I am clearly very excited to look like a flapper

Start by applying foundation so that you have a even complexion.  Initially pale skin was preferred, but Coco Channel popularized tanned skin which became the new ideal by the end of the decade.  So it doesn't matter whether or not you are as pale as I am, you would still have made a fashionable flapper.

Next apply a rough layer of eyeliner to the top lash line, and spots of eyeliner to the bottom lash base.  You will be smudging this, so disregard neatness, the dots will ensure that the lower lid has ligher eyeliner than the top lid.

 Now smudge!  Interestingly new archeological discoveries in Egypt fueled a cultural fascination with Egypt.  Egyptian Kohl inspired the intense use of eyeliner seen during this era.

Apply a grey shimmery eyeshadow over the eyelid and up toward the outer brow bones.  The left image shows how this should look with your eyes open.

Now apply a dark brown eyeshadow to your eyelids near the eyelashes, but do not cross over the crease.

Apply white to the remaining uncovered area under your eyebrow.  People aimed for stark contrast between dark eyes, pale (and later tan) skin, and red lips.  The white helps exaggerate the contrast.

Add a line of the dark brown eye shadow under you lower eyelid.  If you are starting to resemble a zombie, you are doing it right.  Movie stars from the 1920's aimed for a dramatic vampish appearance.

Flappers had rather distinctive eyebrows, they were plucked into arches and curved downward, ending farther down the face than do eyebrows today.  Apologetically, I did not pluck my eyebrows down to tiny arches for you.  If you want an authentic flapper face and don't feel like plucking your eyebrows into submission, you can just draw them in.  Use eyeliner or eyeshadow that matches your eyebrow color to extend your eyebrows down to where the brow bone ends.

This medieval torture device is actually just an eyelash curler.   Women in the 1920's depended on these extensively, so it is only proper to make use of one yourself.

Now glob mascara onto those curled eyelashes.  GLOB IT ON.  In the 1920's mascara was still in its early stages of evolution, women would often mix vaseline with soot to create a home made alternative.  Be happy you just have a tube of mascara.  The previous picture gives you a better idea of how dark this makeup gets.  However, this is the end result of how your eyes should look.

Unlike today when people typically apply a line of blush for an angular effect, women in the 1920's mainly applied blush to the area I am pointing to with the brush.  They applied blush in circles to make their faces look wider.  Any pinkish shade of blush will do.

The final step is to apply the trademark flapper red lipstick.  The cupid bow lip shape was extremely popular.  Instead of covering the entire lip, women would apply lipstick to the center of their upper and lower lip in a sort of heart shape, and then draw thin inward curving extensions of the lipstick toward the corners of the mouth.  I actually covered my lips with a bit of foundation to emphasize the shape.  You certainly don't have to do this, I was simply trying to make the effect clear.

Voila! I give you the flapper face.  This is my best imitation of Clara Bow's flapper pout.  As I warned earlier, this is a lot of makeup.  For an ordinary day, just picking an element such as the eyes or lips will achieve a flapperisness without making you resemble a zombie/ vampire/ heroin addict.

As a straight figure was ideal for flappers, much of their clothing best suits women with straight figures.  If you are built this way, the cuts of the clothing are a great place to draw from for inspiration for what to where.  If you don't have a stright figure, fret not.  You can easily capture elements of the flapper look without wearing the exact cuts of the 20's.

There are a couple of different ways to emulate the flapper. The most obvious is to directly imitate the look.  Now this can look rather costumey.  To avoid this effect, limit a full flapper look to occasions you must dress up for.  On ordinary days try not to utilize every element of flapper style at once.  Maybe wear flapper makeup, and hair or a cloche with a plain black and white ensemble.  Or wear flapper jewelry, long chains of beads or long pendants, with a cropped top.  

Utilizing a few flapper style elements
(the lipstick, the pendants, the cloche, and the sequins
in the shorts) to create a look that clearly reminisces of 1920's style
while still remaining very current.

You can wear flapper dresses as well, in which case it may be wise to avoid full flapper makeup, just toning it down a bit is most appropriate in this case.  Soft waves would pair nicely with a flapper dress and still fit both the flapper and modern aesthetics.  You can find very beautiful flapper style dresses on the online store Unique Vintage (http://www.unique-vintage.com/flapper-c-31.html).  If your wallet isn't quite up for the $200-$300 hit it would take from one of these dresses, you can find dropped waist beaded dresses at Forever 21 and H&M for less than a fifth of the price.  Combining elements for modern and flapper style will achieve something unique for each combination you create. 

There are also modern adaptations of flapper attire you can try.  Loose backless or lace back shirts and dresses resemble the open back attire flappers would sometimes wear.  A cowl top blouse or dress with spaghetti straps would imitate the loose low cut garments flappers also tended to wear.  

This is me in a cowl neck top with toned down flapper make up
This comes off very modern yet maintains its link to the past.
Also note I have a bowl and am clearly prepared for raining meatballs.

You can imitate the dropped waist with a large knit sweater and a short skirt peaking out underneath.  Large boxy blazers will also create the flapper shape.  

Instead of a sweater, any loose dropped waist
shirt with a short skirt will create a modern flapper s silhouette
Also note the dramatic headband, it adds
color while maintaining the flapper motif.

Conveniently sequins, fringe, beading, and faux fur vests are fairly stylish at the moment, so wearing any of these with a cloche is a trendy nod to roaring 20’s glamor.

The final way to rock the flapper look is to be the modern flapper, no not by putting rouge on your knees, but by applying the flapper attitude to how you dress.  Try feminizing elements of menswear, such as blazers cinched at the waist, or vests ties and suspenders, much like how flappers feminized the boyish figure.  The flappers were about rebellion; so the modern flapper would rebel against modern fashion.  To emulate the modern flapper create your own beauty aesthetic that contradicts the norms and expectations of women today.  Send me pictures of what you think a flapper would look like in 2014, or what sort of look you think emulates those rebellious ladies from the 20’s.