"Alone in Unquiet Darkness": Flappers

In the 1920's a new type of women came about, she was known as a flapper. Women who were flappers smoked, drank, partied, danced, wore make-up, voted and cut there hair short. Though there were some women who went in between the flapper hood and the older generation making it so they lost some things like corsets and there long hair, but still kept to less risky attire and for the most part there moral values. The flappers came about during the a time period known as the "roaring twenties". They were part of the younger generation because they took risks and were giddy. The term "flapper" was first used to describe young girls who still had not reached womanhood being that they were still awkward in movement.

The flapper movement in they United States was considered drastic and shocking to some. So, to make the flapper movement easier on the public practically every article of clothing with trimmed down. During the roaring twenties the jazz age had come about and helped along the flapper movement by making it easier for women to move freely and dance. Thereby getting rid of corsets and pantaloons and replacing them with underwear called "step-ins" for women. Though for the outer clothing that flappers wore was know to be unidentifiable it was known as "garconne"("little boy"). The instigator of this type of clothing was Coco Channel. The idea behind this type of clothing was to look more like a boy. So, women would attempt to flatten there chests, the waist line of the dress was dropped to there hips and they would wear raylon("artificial silk") over garter belts. Then the hem of the dresses and skirts began to rise, so that it rose to just above the knee during the years of 1925-1927. the flappers, then cut there hair so that it was in a "bob" but then in the latter years of the twenties cut it shorter to a what is called the "shingle" or "Eton". Women would then would finish off there look with what is called a cloche, which was a bell-shaped hat made out of felt, and heavy make-up that was once a style used for loose women.

The flappers were known to have a character of stark trustfulness, sexual behavior and fast living. They took risks that made them seem reckless. Flappers began to do things previously that only men had done like smoke, but it wasn't the most shocking thing they had begone to experiment with to rebel against the "Gibson Girl" generation. These women began to drink alcohol at a early age, but they did so knowing that it had been outlawed during probation. Some of these young girls would even carry around hip flasks wherever they went so, it would for them be on hand. Since flappers came about during the Jazz age , they listened and danced to jazz music. Which for them was considered to be perfect because it went along with there fast passed life styles. Some of the dances like the Charleston, Shimmy and Black Bottom were considered as "wild" by older generations. These young women also insisted on driving and riding in Henry Fords innovations being that they were fast and risky which fit the attitudes of flappers.