fashion & beauty
1900-1925
The Most Revolutionary Years in Women’s Fashion History By Lynda Meyer / Photos by Kate Coulehan countries on earth – were finally awarded full civil rights alongside their male fellow citizens. By the mid 1920s, a new generation arose out of the ashes of World War I, as did a new art. The Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels (International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) in Paris 1925 brought forth the Art Deco movement that predominated style and fashion for the next 20 years: the revolution in women’s fashion (and lives) was born. Much of the fashions, inspired by painters like Picasso and carried out by designers like Chanel, were characterized by clothes that were simple, mobile, and aerodynamic. Most importantly, the new clothes were not only much simpler in line, eliminating the necessity for layers of tight structured undergarments, they were short. As the 1920s progressed, skirt lengths rose to just below the knee. Never before in the annals of hundreds of years of fashion history have women appeared in public revealing their legs. Prior to this, no reference was ever made to the lower part of the female anatomy. The result of shorter dress lengths not only liberated women physically, but politically and socially as well. Clothes that no longer inhibited women created an environment that encouraged fuller personal freedom.
Rack of Edwardian dresses (1901-1915), Lynda’s Antique Clothing Loft, Adams, MA
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he first 25 years of the twentieth century brought unprecedented change into the world. In the beginning of the century, technology was revolutionizing societies with amazing new inventions that came to fruition almost all at once. There were telephones, motion pictures, airplanes, radios, and the start of mass production to mention just some of the applications of the new sciences being carried into everyday life. World War I, a truly horrifying and monumental event, changed the world power structure for generations to come. It left most of Europe in ruins, resulting in the evolution of a new social order. Women were called upon to take on roles never asked of them at any other time. At the end of the war, women in the United States and Great Britain – the two most powerful 10
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The 1920s Art Deco movement was truly an art movement. The new esthetics in fashion were quite wonderful – clothes were designed in such a way that the garments assumed the shape of each person’s unique body type. Dresses and gowns were cut on the bias, had lots of floating parts, and moved in many ways. Also the workmanship of these clothes still retained former standards – French seams, hand beading, and the use of fine materials. The revolution in fashion created a new look and freedom, while still providing high standards in art and design to the masses. Although the Art Deco movement of the 1920s swept away the prior fashions of the early 1900s, lately there has been a kind of dewy-eyed nostalgia for the beautifully crafted clothing of the late Victorian and Edwardian periods. Thankfully, though woman no longer have to wear the terribly uncomfortable and enforced restrictive clothing of that time on a daily basis, antique clothing shops have made it possible to revisit the past for special occassions. Today, we have come to a place where efficiency and uniformity dominate style, and a wide array of