100 Years of Sexual Expression

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What is sex? I refuse to describe it as just two beings getting together and trying to reproduce, or even as simple as fooling around for pleasure. Although, both of those obviously exist, and I am sure that they are the first things that came to your mind when I utter the word; it’s a word that we oftentimes avoid using due to its once perceived as dirty connotations. Sex is much less simple than the natural phenomenon that we see it as. It is a fantasy, an illusion, a state of being and most importantly, a piece of everyone.

Sometimes when having a very serious conversation about clothing amongst my peers within the fashion studies department, you might hear one of the funniest words in the English vocabulary, “sexy.” As a product of the early 2000s, this word is a pretty prominent word in my vernacular. The word sexy implies that something about what you are describing is visually appealing, but also has a certain sex appeal to it that cannot go unnoticed. It is like when you see black fishnet stockings paired with a simple black heel; something about it just exudes sex.

Sexual expression through clothing is used in many different ways and is a subtle nod to the wearer’s persona and comfort with their own sexuality. In recent times, it has become more acceptable for sexual expression, including nudity, to be an open part of society. Especially in fashion, sex is an integral part of design and aesthetic.

Within only the last 100 years, society has made leaps and bounds towards where we are now and where we are going. There were many different ways to radiate sex with the aid of apparel, and there were many different times that these designs and styles took center stage, guiding ourselves away from sexual oppression and into sexual liberation.

In the 1920s, trailing away from Edwardian Art Nouveau designs, women’s hemlines drew up to the knee midway through the decade. This might seem like a rather modest look now, but in that time, it was considered a very new and progressive way of dress. The sight of stockings was not something that had been acceptable in modern society in quite some time, especially in this manner.

The dresses were never snug around the hips or even in the breast really, but they had other sexual elements to them, especially in evening and formal dress at the time. Many times these ensembles called for a bare shoulder, or even a chest, seeing away with the dove breasted covered looks and hello to collar bones and perhaps even a bit of cleavage. With heavy amounts of beading and some elements of chiffon flow, these dresses were genuinely sexy.

The end of the 1920s came and escorted a new aspiration of sexual expression to the public, and that is through Hollywood films and their movie stars. Hemlines dropped again, but the sexual appeal did not disappear. We saw more fitted garments, especially with new actors and actresses in movies being the ones who popularized them. The vision of Jean Harlow wearing only a tight silk gown exudes sexual expression at this time.

Although sex was still not a topic to be spoken about in mixed company, we had plenty of men and women in the limelight who stirred up feelings both in the cinemas but also within ourselves. Due to this, we now have sex icons like the incredible Clark Gable, who with one look, still to this day, can make any seat wet, or the the even more heightenendly sexualized Mae West, who tickled audiences pink with her less than subtle, sometimes filthy, sexual innuendos that she was notorious for all the way into her 80s. With this new introduction of film and media of the sort, we saw a surge in sexual enlightenment through entertainment, and fashion was there to help that.

The beginning of the 1940s was a rough time for fashion as Europe had been at war for a bit of time, and the United States was about to join the fight. Fashion was less about showing off and flaunting sexuality at the time, but more about conserving and living. Rations played a big part in the slowing down of fashion during his time, and many styles of the previous decade followed in.

Pants, of course, had been worn by men for centuries, but prior to this time, pants worn by women were considered un-womanly and immodest most of the time. Although the intention of bringing pants to the limelight was not to express sexual statements, this opened a door so that it could. There are times of both masculine and feminine, and a lot of the time they coexist, but the 1940s had many very powerful hyper masculine fashions. The shoulder pads in women’s wear resemble the large shoulders of a sexy man, the pants going straight up to the waist, all looking very Katherine Hepburn and being effortlessly sexy.