The golden 1920s- that meant Charleston and Jazz. Accessories like red lips, cigarettes, bobbled hair or free love, short skirts and a great depression at the end.

The > années folles< lasted 5 years from 1924 to 1929. In this decade there were not only developments in the field of fashion but also in the field of technical objects, for example telephones, radios and cars. At this time Coco Chanel had her break through with her best inventions: the little black dress, multi road pearl necklaces on simple embroidery, slingpumps with dark cap and last but not least her own image.
Slowly women got self-confident, this showed in their fashion. Young women suppressed their hunger with "opium, diet and nicotine", because they had to be thin in these society.
What used to be pushed up by corsets, was now flattened by bras and bodices.
At first skirts were very short like during the war.

Short time later the baggy skirts were long to the calf and decorated with belt. The upper part was like blouson.
In 1925 the skirts still covered the knee but only 2 years later it was already seen.
The silhouette was born: a simple shirt with 2 small straps. Women wearing this were called "Flapper-girls".
At first the skirt was as short, as the skirt at the day. People took transparent material, glass pearls and silk- fringes on day-dresses, blouse, the pair of tights, silk or artificial silk and were inexpensive. Often women didn't wear tights, they showed their skin in front and back.
The low neckline reached to the waist, under the jacket women wore
cream -coloured cotton-combinations:

1. corsets with adjustable straps
2. elastic sides
3. fasteners at the side
4. petticoats

Because the evening-wear was so thin, they wore coats the cold periods.
The jacket was closed with one hand or a great button. The collar and cuffs would be laced with fur. The bell-shape soon began to get longer again and the upper part was tight- fitting. Sport-wear became in and stressed the waist. Skirts-lengths varied through of the decade
On October 24th 1929 the golden 20s ended with the black Friday the crash of the stockmarket. Suddenly money lost all its value.

Accessories of the golden 20s
Objects:
The accessories were cigarette-holder, strings of pearls, compact,
cigarette-case and boa or fan made of plume.

Shoes:
In the evening women wore a head scarves and evening shoes (dancing shoes).

Hair:
The styling was short hair like a bobbed hair.


Make-up:
Women put on make-up: this was for example red lipstick for the mouth, powder and rouge (a round splodge). Eyebrows were picked and a black line was pulled, green or blue eye-shadow, black eye-liner and fake eyelashes with a diamond were used.

Vocabulary (1920-1930)
English German

adjustable strap - verstellbaren Riemchen
annèes folles - andere Bezeichnung für die 20er
baggy - sackartig
bell-shaped - glockig
belt - Gürtel
blouse - Bluse
bobbed hair - Bubikopf
button - Knopf
calf - Waden
coat - Mantel
collar - Kragen
corsets -Korsett
cover - bedecken
cuff -Manschette
decade - Zeitraum
embroidery - Strickarbeit
fur - Pelz
glass pearls - Glasperlen
low neckline - Decolletés
material - Stoff
petticoat - Unterrock
silk-fibre - Seidenfransen
skin - Haut
strap -Träger
tight-fitting - enganliegend
tight - Strumpf
to fall - fallen
to flatten -flachdrücken
to last - dauern
upper part - Oberteil
waist - Taille
wool-combination - Baumwollkombination

Vocabulary of the accessories
English German
a round splodge - runder Fleck
bobble-hair - Bubikopf
cigarette-case - Zigarrettenetui
cigarette-holder - Zigarretenspitze
compact - Puderdose
fake eyelashes - falsche Wimpern
fan-plum - Straußenfederfächer
head-scarf - Kopftuch
string of pearls - Perlenkette
to pick- zupfen

By Julia Gebhard and Susanne Inden

Sources

Seeling, Charlotte: Mode - das Jahrhundert der Designer. Köln: Könemann, 1999.
Lehnert, Gertrud: Schnellkurs Mode. Köln: Dumont, 1998.

Timeline Fashion

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