Written by: Ashley, Carley, Cindy, Makiyah
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Table of Contents 1……………………….Front Cover 2……………………….Table of Contents 3………………………..Women’s Fashion 4……………………….Fashion Advertisement 5………………………..Crazy Ladies! 6………………………..Clash of Traditionalists and Modernism 7………………………..Clash of Traditionalists and Modernism cont. 8………………………...Clash of Traditionalism and Modernism cont. 9……………………..….The Dilemma of Our Youth Today 10…………………….....The Dilemma of Our Youth Today cont. 11………………………..The Blacker the Berry Advertisement 12………………………...You Believe in What? 13………………………...Bibliography 14…………………………Bibliography cont.
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Women’s Fashion in the 1920s Is new women’s fashion a threat to Americans values? By; Ashley Baum
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Short dresses, short hair, make up, alcohol, and smoking, what have the young women of the century become of? Women dressing and acting like this is threatening our American values. We need to get our society together and stop this madness. Flappers are young women who are wearing short skirts and dresses. They smoke cigarettes and drink liquor. Flappers are very thin women that are concerned about themselves. They go to nightclubs and speakeasies to drink and smoke. They have sexual freedom and they usually settle down later. Is this the behavior we want around our fellow children and young women? Flappers don’t care what people think of their fashion and that causes a threat to American values. Girls don’t want to be respectable anymore because attractive women other known as flappers aren’t respectable. Flappers flirt because it is fun and never get bored because they aren’t boring. Boys want to marry flappers because they don’t have to ask for permission from the girl’s father. Not asking permission of marriage or of dating is against American values.
A flapper who is dancing at a club
Traditional women were expected to get married right away, have long hair, take care of children, clean, and some, very few, went to school. Flappers are refusing to do what is expected of them, all they want to do is party and have fun, which is not acceptable. They have it easier than traditional women with all of the new technologies but they still decide to be reckless and unpredictable. The worst part about this is, is that children are seeing this and putting these flappers as their ideals. Women kiss or show public display of affection in front of young children. It is harmful to families and children watching American values thrown away like that. Flappers fashion has become the icon of the fashionable world which is shameful knowing that this means our values have been flushed down the toilet. Our American values are getting lost because of flappers and their new fashion.
Modern Clothing
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Crazy Ladies!
Written by: Carley Miller
Living the high life in this day and age consists of lavish parties with vulgar dresses… The men stare at us leeringly, and the women give us their most sour faces. They’re only jealous of what they aren’t confident enough to do. Kissing multiple different men in one night catches so many stares from all over the room, but no mind to them. This lifestyle is very entertaining, however it comes at a price in a way. All of our lives, we’re taught to be prim, and proper. Girls have to wear skirts past their ankles, and if someone were to see those ankles they’d be given such dreadful stares. Women are held to a high standard, like being a housewife, mother, cleaning lady, hostess, and must remain innocent and pure. Before we marry, us women aren’t allowed to kiss a man unless he has a ring on our left hand.
Gibson Girl
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Men are conflicted on who they should take interest in since they don’t support flappers, or they shouldn’t.
These plain Jane women are what the rest of us like to call, Gibson Girls. In these women’s titles includes what’s stated before, innocent motherly housewives. A lot of the negative attention us Flappers received from them was because those traditional ladies were jealous of our confidence. Flappers. This word was used so often, but the culture of flappers was all over the urban communities. We were women who wore our dresses cut above our knees, and our socks cut just below our knees. If we felt a little wild, we would chop our hair to our chins, and style it. Multiple necklaces were draped around our necks, along with gloves, and bracelets too. As crazy as it sounds, most of us had cigarettes in our dainty hands, puffing in the smoke and rolling big clouds into the air. Drinking the prohibited alcohol is a favored pastime as well. The feeling of doing things that are frowned upon give the girls such a thrill. Changes for ladies in this time are occurring rapidly, and whether one likes it or not is up to them. Gibson Girls will either learn to accept the Flappers, or they could go on to become one soon. In conclusion, the Gibson Girls haven’t gone anywhere, they’ve just morphed into their own kind of woman.
Clash of Traditionalists and Modernism In every community, there have been controversial topics that roll off of the lips of those who do anything from make laws to beggars on the street. Within this article, the more in depth examples of the battles between two vastly different belief groups will be shown. First, you will read about youth’s experiences during this time period, and also from the 2010’s youth’s perspective of their own life. Then it will highlight the fashion, and will educate you on the threat to women’s values seen during this time. After that, you will read about the Gibson Girls and where they’ve gone. Finally, there will be a piece about culture, and how it is affecting the different people in sometimes neighboring societies. Through all of these writings, the clash between tradition and modernism will be modeled through the different aspects of life during the 1920’s.
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Let’s take a look and compare the youth of the 1920’s and the youth of the 2010’s and how they dressed. The ‘20’s traditional culture’s ideals were widely accepted, dressing modestly and obviously traditionally. While the modern cultural ideas weren’t as popular with people, wearing much shorter skirts, and having their stockings lower than normal. The actions of the modern thinkers, specifically the women, were called Flappers. These girls were living their lives similarly to how the youth of the 2010’s are living. Now, the youth of the 2010’s dress and act however they please, which is how the Flappers thought. Everyone’s appearance affects someone somewhere, but your culture will reflect how someone might react to it.
Clash of Traditionalists and Modernism (cont.) The traditionalists are very different from the youths, youths are flappers that wear short skirts and dresses, they wear make up, drink, and smoke. Traditionalists are traditional women you wear long dresses and long hair. Traditional women are expected to get married right away, take care of their children, clean, and some go to school. Flappers just want to party and have fun, they aren’t expected of anything. With all of the new technology youths still don’t care and decide to be reckless and unpredictable. America now has washing machines, refrigerators, and etc. but flappers don’t care. They don’t settle down until later and they have seual freedom. Women dressing and acting like this is clashing with traditionalists and threatening America’s values.
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Example of Flapper’s clothing
Man and Flapper smoking
In bigger cities, the citizens quickly realized they had different opinions than their somewhat close neighbors in rural parts of the country, who moved in. People from the rural communities had very traditional views, and held women under a different spotlight than the urban cities did. For example, women from rural places were almost required to be modest, raise children and be a good wife, and were called Gibson Girls holding the traditional name. While urban cities had some of the same morals, but with a modern twist, these women were breaking those barriers and becoming Flappers. These flappers had their dresses cut shorter than ever, and up to their knees, and they went to parties, smoked and kissed men! These flappers didn’t commit any real crime, but they didn’t hold up to the traditional standard that rural community members had set for women during the early 1900’s.
Clash of Traditionalists and Modernism (cont.)
Our last example that falls under tradition and modernism is Culture. Culture values are good within society because it shows the differences in people’s beliefs. Say in a rural classroom everyone is in your business because it’s so small, although in a urban city people just mind their business because they really don’t care and its more public.
Party that Flappers attended, dancing to live music
Overall, the ‘20’s were a very wild time across the board. From rapidly changing culture, to the drastic differences in women’s clothing and lifestyles. Many different parts of life shaped this decade, it created new experiences for women and children. Though there were differing opinions between cultures, life still moved on. Everyone lived their lives and decided what they wanted to wear, and made the choices they wanted to. Looking back on this era, we can learn a lot about avoiding clashes or conflicts by accepting everyone’s decisions and opinions.
Example of culture - music
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The Dilemma of Our Youth Today Article by Cindy Tolentino-Antun Diving into the problems that have stirred our streets is finally looked into as we view the sides of both modernists and traditionalists with their opinions and statements.
It was silent. Both groups, the modernists and the traditionalists, stood still, huffing, bickering over who ruined our current generation. Facts and fury went back and forth between the two, constantly arguing. In the end, everyone wants to know: are the youth destroying our American values? This question can go one of two ways, and both have different, but still incredibly supported answers from millions of people. “So simple a child could do it,” says one traditionalist. “[How] they always blame us for not precisely following in their footsteps!” says a modernist.
The list of quotes coming from the groups could go on forever, if not for the biggest change that has impacted our American values: flappers. This topic is where the traditionalists and modernists go ballistic. Flappers, also referred to as “a symbol of sin” to many, are what have stirred the nation due to one factor that has recently ended, World War I. Due to the number of men dying throughout the war, many women took the role of replacing the missing men’s jobs in many places. Because of all this, woman felt the need to open up. Of course, this was a shock to many. These sweet, elegant, wannabe Gibson Girls had turned into flappers, and traditionalists are not happy about this outcome today. Instead of light dances, they turned into jazzy, wild swings. Tea turned into liquor and booze. Fresh air had turned into rolls of nicotine. All of these differences are what created your typical flapper that you’d see in any bar.
Actress Joan Crawford is seen dancing the Charleston in the lead role in "Our Dancing Daughters" in Hollywood, 1928.
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Their long ball gowns had been cut as high as their thighs. Long, wavy hair was pinned up, or, if you’re feeling bold, cut short to the length of your chin.
“If one judges by appearance, I suppose I am a flapper,” said an anonymous source.
And so the original question remains standing, and although everyone has their own opinion, only you, the reader, can conclude what you think is right.
Another change that took America by a storm is the youth epidemic. “They are selfish and inconsiderate, thinking of no one’s comfort or pleasure but their own,” H.M called out in a recent letter to the Chicago Tribune. “They lack precision in speech and all you ever hear them say is “hot mommas” “keen shapes, “nice legs”, etc. This is modern youth as I see it!” “I would like to observe that the older generation has certainly pretty well ruined this world before passing it on to us.” shot back John F. Carter Jr, a supportive modernist. “How they always blame us for not following precisely in their eminently correct footsteps!”, he announced. “We have been forced to live in an atmosphere of “tomorrow we die”, he continues, referencing the impact of our recent war. “and so naturally, we drank and were merry.” Stage and film actress Theda Bara poses with a flower corsage on April 6, 1921 at an unknown location.
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You Believe in What? Stop this nonsense America! Come out to the city to have a good life! Become a factory worker or insurance manager instead of an animal poop scooper. Live a happy, social life with others that can help you, if you meet their standards… Everyone should come and enjoy the urban life. Rural towns are small, and you can’t find a many different types of work like you can in the cities. Even though you can get a lot of work done, it isn’t the same as living in the bigger cities. Why would anyone enjoy having everyone knowing your business, it sounds terrible. Plus the amount of labor would be hard on your body. When you live in a rural town, everyone obviously knows all about your business. This kind of business can range from what you do in your free time, to who you worship and how you do it.
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Written by: Makiyah Crutcher This isn’t something anyone would really enjoy, so why would you stay through it? It doesn’t add up! The culture in these rural towns is not near as great as it is living in the cities! It’s good for you to have change. Living in the city is also better because you have so much to do! Urban values are good for America because you can work in good paying jobs,express your beliefs without everyone getting into your business and have entertainment at your fingertips. This is why living in cities is also a good choice. the culture in urban places, is good because everyone is staying positive and doing what they’re supposed to in peace. Cities are good for America and don’t really seem to show any threat to the American citizens so far.
Bibliography Kallen, Stuart A. “Chapter 4: Roaring Good Times.” The Roaring Twenties, Greenhaven Press, 2002, pp. 127–139. Yancey, Diane. “Chapter 2: Thoroughly Modern.” Life During the Roaring Twenties, Lucent Books, 2002, pp. 24–25. “Film Stills.” Getty Images, www.gettyimages.com/event/film-stills-109759179?esource=SEO_GI S_CDN_Redirect#british-actor-basil-rathbone-as-fictional-detective-s herlock-holmes-picture-id101553869. “Alice Joyce.” Shmoop, media1.shmoop.com/media/images/large/alice-joyce.jpg. LuÌ sted, Marcia Amidon, and Jennifer K. Keller. The Roaring Twenties: Discover the Era of Prohibition, Flappers, and Jazz. Nomad Press, 2014. Price, Sean. America Has Fun: the Roaring Twenties. Raintree, 2009. Hanson, Erica. The 1920s. Lucent Books, 1999. Fitzgerald, Zelda. “Eulogy on the Flapper.” Metropolitan Magazine , June 1922.
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Pfeiffer, Lee. “The Roaring Twenties.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 27 Mar. 2014, www.britannica.com/topic/The-Roaring-Twenties. Rosenberg, Jennifer. “The New, Modern Woman: The Flapper.” ThoughtCo, www.thoughtco.com/flappers-in-the-roaring-twenties-1779240.
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