All the Pizzazz from the Jazz Age

Hold up! Let us stop you right there before you associate the entirety of Jazz Age with only the saccharine melodies of Louis Armstrong and Paul Whiteman. The Jazz Age (1918-1930) was infamous for its Post World War escapades and ideals ranging from carefree hedonism to enhanced freedom, beautifully pieced together by the fragmented verses of The Waste Land by T.S. Elliot and short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The only real upside to it was not just the hauntingly raw literature that got birthed out of it but also the ripple effect it brought for women, fashion, and women who loved fashion. Firstly, 1920, the inaugural year of the Roaring Twenties, bestowed onto white women the right to vote, the delay of which is earth-shatteringly appalling but better late than never, right? One of the two things this did was furthering androgynous fashion as women tore through the back-breaking (quite literally) corsets and scrounged for more practical clothing, owing to their increased entry into the workforce.

Next up, The Prohibition aka the ban on alcohol imposed in the 1920s put in third gear the burgeoning of speakeasies, jazz clubs, and the works. This led to the rise of the “New Women” or “Flappers” - the “scandalous” women who worked professionally, smoked, drank, drove, voted, and wore knee-length dresses like it’s nobody’s business (which it isn’t). With bobbed hair, these “unladylike” women cemented the silhouettes for the 20s, which were loose, sleeveless dresses with high, straight necklines to de-emphasize the breasts for a straighter, stream the lined figure which was considered ideal in the 20s. Moreover, fur and feather had huge moments in the era alongside staging the entry of bishop sleeves and knitwear, courtesy to our beloved Coco Chanel. Shimmer, glitter along with intricate Egyptian motifs were the official embroideries of the roaring twenties that blinged with the customary accessories of the era- beaded headbands and lose chokers. Flapper became a lifestyle, nay a culture which pushed women to grow out of restrictive clothing and the parochial views of society, hovering over their heads like dark, dense clouds, which reflected in the celebratory fashion that became the trademark for this era.