The Great Gatsby

Clothing of the 1920s

     The 1920s in America were times of great change. Coming out of the despair of the First World War, society exploded in a million different directions. The Twenties were a time for women voting, the Harlem Renaissance, and an incredible burst of affluence for the middle class. With automobiles and appliances making people's lives easier, leisure time was also an added luxury. The rapid change that struck the country is clearly illustrated by fashions of the decade.
   Although 1920s fashions (especially for women) tend to be thought of as mannish, skimpy and flamboyant (bobbed hair, long pearl necklaces, cloche hats, knee-length and thin dresses, etc.), the styles were also elegant, sexy, and even contemporary. 1920s fashion was about so much more than the cliche that many people associate with the era, flapper dresses and feathered headbands. The Twenties had its fads as well as its classics, a few of which live on today. It was a romantic era for fashion, which is why people look back at it with great fondness and still emulate its style.

Fashion History
    Between about 1880 and 1910, the ideal woman 'silhouette resembled the letter "S." Women's bodies were forced into corsets of an hourglass shape, with waists contained in tiny circlets measuring less than 20 inches. The upper torso was brought forward, creating a "pigeon front," and the hips were thrust backward and slightly up, finishing out the letter "S." Skirts hit the floor, and the sight of even an ankle was considered to be quite racy. The 1910s were a time of great transition. The S-shape started softening a bit and by the 1920s it took a dramatic turn. Women were flattening their busts and hips and unbinding their waists from the constraining corsets, which resulted in a long, slim line known as "garçonne," meaning 'boyish' in French. Dress waistlines fell, beginning at about the natural line at the start of the 1920s and dropping to around the hips just a bit later in the decade.

Bare in Bathing Suits
   Barer bathing wear took on special significance as an expression of women's newfound freedom. Swimsuits of the 1920s were either short taffeta shifts -- favored by older women -- or tight, sleeveless wool tank suits with built-in undershorts which stopped at mid-thigh. Tank suits were available in black or primary colors, often sporting geometric designs such as stripes or modern art style abstracts. Women protected their bobbed hairdos by wearing bathing caps. Some women, especially in the most fashionable resorts, wore dramatic cover-ups over their suits. People became health-food, exercise and sun-worship oriented in a major fitness fad, triggered by all that flesh out in public view for the first time. Bathing suits became more comfortable, and also revealed more skin, with the marketing of the Jantzen elasticized one-piece bathing suit. One of the first appearances of such "revealing" bathing suits was at a September 1921 bathing beauty pageant (later known as the Miss America pageant) in Atlantic City, NJ This event was the first to feature women in skin-tight suits with knees exposed. Reporters and photographers played up the event with much overdone coverage, and began the swimsuit show craze of the twenties.
   Men's swimwear consisted of tank suits with under shorts, usually made of body-hugging wool. This style of bathing suit continued to be popular for men through the 1930s.

Fashion Designers at Work
"Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel
(1883-1971)

French fashion designer

Chanel emerged in fashion in the 1920s with great force. She proved to be one of the century's most influential designers and entrepreneurs. Her designs freed women from the 19th century corset. She designed her first chemise dress in 1920 and the collarless cardigan jacket in 1925. Simplicity, elegance and comfort marked her style. She introduced her signature perfume fragrance, Chanel No. 5, in 1925.

Clothing Production
   It might be a surprise to learn that in the 1920s, a lot of clothing was still made at home or by tailors and dressmakers. The brand name, ready-to-wear industry did not really exist until the 1930s; however some ready-made clothing was available from department stores and mail-order catalogs. Paris design houses developed two collections a year, one for the spring season and one for the autumn season. Each designer presented prototypes on models in his or her own salon. Garments would then be copied and made to order for each individual. This required several fittings and work by many seamstresses and apprentices. The shapes of this period were easily adapted to standardized sizes because of their simplicity. This, along with the introduction of electronically powered sewing machines, led to mass production and distribution of new clothing styles. Consumerism in the United States was revolutionized and the number of fashion magazines increased greatly, providing immediate information on fashion trends.

Let's Talk About Hair and Makeup
   Another important ingredient of the "masculine" look was a short, boyish haircut. Women chopped off the poufy hairdos of the 1900s and 1910s for modern 'bobbed," waved or shingled styles. Those stragglers who chose not to cut their hair wore it pulled back at the nape of the neck and knotted in a chignon. For eveningwear, headbands or Spanish-style hair combs held chignons in place. Bobbed hair was first introduced during World War I and was popularized by Irene Castle. The impact of bobbed hair, and all it was felt to represent, was monumental. The popular culture of the time is filled with jokes, stories, cartoons, songs, theatrical skits, newspaper articles, and short movies, about bobbed hair.
   Fashion-conscious men wore their hair parted in or near the center and slicked back with brilliantine, an oily, perfumed hairdressing that added shine and kept hair from moving. This look was popularized starting in the early 1920s by screen idols, such as Rudolph Valentino.
   Makeup was simple: pale powder and cream rouge circles on the cheeks; brows plucked and penciled in thin arches; lips painted brilliantly red, emphasizing the Cupid's bow of the upper lip, and de-emphasizing the width of the lower lip, creating a rosebud pout. These "bee-stung" lips are unmistakably characteristic of the 1920s.

Hats Galore
   In the early 1920s, hats had deep crowns and medium-to-large brims, but in 1923, brims began disappearing and hats became helmet-like. These hats, or cloches, were quite popular even though they were unattractive on anyone but the very young and the extremely pretty. Matrons and plump women with a sense of style stuck with brimmed hats, which were more in balance with their features and considerably more flattering. Though in a spring, 1924 issue of Vogue would pose the question, "Is the cloche dead?" they were the latest fad for most of the 1920s, finally easing out of fashion around 1930.
   In summer, men sported broad brimmed Panama straw hats as well as those with shallow, flat tops and stiff brims called Boaters or Skimmers (depending on the width of the brim), a popular hat style which originated in the late 1800s. In the fall and winter, English driving caps were popular for casual wear, while felt fedoras for everyday wear with suits and sport coats were frequently worn.

Those Outrageous Hemlines
   Hemlines hovered at the lower calf at the start of the 1920s and remained there until nearly 1925 when they rose to an unprecedented high -- the bottom of the knee. They stayed there until 1929 when they dropped back down to the lower calf. Stockings were made of silk and had back seams. Casual or sport stockings were made of cotton lisle. Stockings were rolled just above the knee and held fast with pretty elastic garters. Patterned hose from Paris was in vogue for a while, showing gorgeous hand-painted designs or embedded rhinestones near the ankle.

Dazzling Daywear
       There were two important ethnic influences on the fabric and prints of the 1920s. One was a Chinese influence, with kimono-styling, embroidered silks, and intense red color. The discovery of King Tut's tomb brought a rash of Egyptian fashion and accessories, including snake bracelets that encircled the upper arm. The cubist art movement and the 1925 Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris influenced the appearance of dramatic abstract and stylized art designs, popular near the end of the decade and well into the 1930s. Small floral and geometric prints were prevalent throughout the decade, especially toward the latter half.
More info on 1920s fashion

   Men's business and formal wear has not changed much since the 1920s. However, a notable exception is casual wear. A fashionable sporting outfit usually consisted of linen knickers, a V-necked sweater with a bow tie, and, the classic spectator shoes. An English driving cap or casual straw hat supplemented the outfit well. College men started the trend of "oxford bags," wide-legged cuff pants that dragged along the ground. These pants had leg openings up to 36 inches. The popular yachting look displayed a navy sport coat, white slacks, and yachting cap. (Several designers, most notably Armani, unsuccessfully tried reintroducing knickers in 1996 as golf wear.) Bow- and standard windsor-knot neckties were equally popular. Some ties were made of knit cotton and had squared-off bottoms, a look successfully brought back in the 1970s. This casual look was topped off by an English driving cap or a summer-weight brimmed hat, such as a Panama straw.







Elegant Evening Wear
   Two big misconceptions exist about 1920s fashion. Contrary to popular belief, women did not always wear fringed flapper dresses with feathered bandeaux and a long strand of beads. There were many other styles of evening dresses. The other misconception is that hemlines in the 1920s were worn way above the knee. Evening clothes were made of luxurious fabrics -- mostly silks -- in velvets, taffetas and chiffon. In the mid-1920s, sleeveless silk chiffon dresses were often embellished with elaborate beadwork. Dresses were designed to move while dancing.

Some had long trailing sashes, trains or asymmetric hemlines. Typically, women did not wear hats for evening, but instead wore fancy combs, scarves and bandeaux. For evening wear, Paris was the place and haute couture was hot. Paris was equated with high fashion, and even a scarf or a small accessory from that city was considered the ultimate in chic. Designers such as Molyneaux, Vionnet, Poiret, Lanvin, and Chanel reigned, and, late in the decade, an important newcomer appeared: Elsa Schiaparelli, who in later decades went on to create novelty and surrealist-print clothing in collaboration with Salvador Dali.
More Info on Women's Fashion


   Men's suits and sport jackets consisted of two- and three-button as well as double breasted styles. The most common fabrics included wool and silk in serge, tweed and sharkskin. Men often preferred to wear pants at the natural waistline and often cuffed at the bottom. Most suits came with multiple pairs of pants. Men slipped pocket watches on chains called fobs into their vests, which were often worn with suits. Tuxedos were practically the same as those worn today, sometimes worn with a silk brocade vest, an elegant accessory.
   Recognizing Daisy's affluence, she most likely wore dresses made out of more expensive fabrics such as silk, and is described as wearing long, flowing white dresses in the summer heat. Gatsby often wore standard suits but in colors such as pink. Partygoers at Gatsby's house most likely wore an assortment of evening wear, as described above, depending on age and level of affluence.

Moving Onward
   As the decade reached its end, fashion started to revert to a longer silhouette, and waistlines began to make a slow reappearance. The fabrics clung more closely to the body. As a sort of compromise between the old shorter skirt and the newer longer skirt, there was a brief period when evening clothes had both. The Flapper look of the 1920s only lasted about 3 years, from 1925 to 1928. By 1928 high fashion had drifted onward, but the look of the Flapper lives on in popular consciousness.

Return to Top
Thank you for visiting Jackie and Lara's Web Site!!

Page created on March 5, 1999.
Curator: Lara Jacobi

GREAT GATSBY HOME