Cloche Hats

In the twenties if you were caught wearing a Cloche hat you would be considered fashion forward.  The Cloche hats made it know that you had short hair because it could only  be worn properly with flat short hair.  Cloche hats were also considered fashionable because they covered women's foreheads (having your forehead exposed was considered unfashionable at the time).

Desired Look

The desired look of women during the the twenties is drastically different from the look of women today.  Women preferred to look more slender and flat-chested.  fashion designer Coco Chanel promoted having tan skin.  The women of the twenties looked more like 15 year old's than grown women.  Bob cuts also made them look more boyish which was all the rage.

Origin of the Word Flapper

The term flapper was first used in the 1920 movie by Frances Marion, The Flapper.  The movie starred Olive Thomas who had been cast in a similar role in 1917.  Some of her last movies portrayed her as a flapper.  Following Olive Thomas' lead, other actresses like Louise Brooks, Clara Bow, Collen Moore and Joan Crawford began taking similar roles.

T Bar Shoes

With the rise in hemlines there was also a rise in shoe sales.  Dresses of the previous era made it nearly impossible to see what shoes a girl was wearing.  However, now that shorter dresses were in style, shoes were in high demand.  The fact that shoes could now be mass manufactured helped meet women's need for shoes.

 T bar shoes were the style preferred by women at the time. The name of these shoes comes from the T shaped strap that runs along the top of the wearers foot. These stylish shoes were no lower than 2 inches.  They were usually closed toe, but were just as fashionable in the peep toe style.  Usually T bar shoes were embellished with some sort of bow or buckle.  Wedged heels were another part in the shoes design.

Make Up

Before the 20's make up was done in secrecy and few women wore it.  However, in the 20's things changed.  Women no longer went to the powder room to apply make up, but applied out in the open.  They also applied a lot more make up than the previous era.  The most popular lipstick color was Ox Blood and rouge.  Now compacts from this era are in great demand among relic collecters.

Coco Chanel

Coco Chanel, born Gabriel Chanel, could be considered a "leading lady"' when it comes to twenties fashion.  The designs she created resembled the silhouettes of flapper fashion.  Other fashion designers at the time were proclaimed outdated because of their clothing collection with fashion from th 1910's.


Coco Chanel not only embraced flapper in her clothing collection, but in her personal fashion as well.  Coco could be caught wearing colors that were standard for  a flapper; beige, cream, sand, navy, black and sand.  These colors  were often worn on jersey fabric dresses and skirts.

Hair and Accessories

The hairstyle of choice during the 20's was a short cropped bob.  Differed variations of the bob include the Bob cut, Etron crop, and Shingle Bob.  Finger Waving was a common method to style the hair. hats were also considered very fashionable, mainly the Newsboy cap and Cloche hat.

As for jewelry, women typically wore long beaded necklaces, art deco pieces, pins, rings and brooches.  Not only that but horned-rimmed glasses were also popular.