Prepare to be amazed!
Esther Ralston, American actress and diva of the 1920s
If we rewind the tape of history for a hundred years, we find ourselves in the 1920s. It was a time of radical breakdown of ideals, rethinking the role of women and attitudes towards her appearance.
Formed over the centuries, the image of a sexually attractive lady, meek and supplied with appetizing forms, began to be perceived as a relic of the past. Modern beauties needed to lead a lifestyle that involved completely different options. The wave of emancipation proclaimed that women no longer have to permanently seduce by flaunting signs of gender. Now it was fashionable to lead an active and independent lifestyle, and flaunt exactly those qualities that accompany it. The paradox is that the ladies who rushed most desperately to fight for freedom from the role of the seductress automatically became the most attractive to men.
Changes in public sentiment affected the silhouette and, in general, greatly influenced the perception of the female image: from hair to hips. We will understand all the nuances separately.
The main characteristics of a beautiful face:
childish features;
audacity;
sharp lines and contrasts;
very thin eyebrows;
short haircuts;
lips with a bow.
The new ideal of a woman’s face completely broke the usual lines and shapes. First, ladies cut off hair and gave up pompous hats. Now the hairstyle has become much more laconic and daring. The make-up had to keep this mood: it continued the idea of clear lines and rigid accents. Absolutely everyone was striving for bow lip shape, thin eyebrows arch, eyes by all means and means tried to do more.
Fashionable waves on hair became the only stronghold of the former softness, but they were also subject to emancipated moods: even the smooth styling looked so that it immediately communicated the firm position of life of its owner.
An attempt to break the old ideals deprived the woman of all charms. Ladies without breasts and waists were now in vogue.
The perception of the female silhouette was influenced by two trends: the growing desire for masculinity and the development of sports. It was in the 1920s that women began to actively ride a bicycle, play tennis, swim and sunbathe. Swimwear of that time is a topic for a separate study. They tried by all means to keep the ladies within the bounds of decency, they even introduced fines for the length of a beach suit, but it was no longer possible to reverse the fashionable emancipation.
If the figure had signs of archaic seductiveness, then they had to be hidden with the help of clothes.
The body, which has now begun to be shown much more often, has acquired new fashionable outlines. The ideal woman of the 1920s had:
athletic physique;
slightly enlarged shoulder area;
flat chest;
reduced waist.
The fashionable young lady had to look like a teenager, and not everyone could meet the new ideal. Beauties with voluminous breasts and thin waists were forced to lose weight to exhaustion or use special devices that tightened their shapes. 1920s dresses helped tackle this problem. They had a straight cut and low waist.
Now a woman could do anything: show her legs (at least ankles!), Sunbathe, play sports, drive a car. In fact, there was a perfectly logical explanation for this. All of these transformations took place after the First World War, during which women were first looked at as a real labor force. They began to work in the rear and at the front, successfully replacing men. After such a social take-off, there was no turning back – to pots and sewing. Incidentally, it was at this time that women were legally allowed to wear trousers for the first time. It was also one small step towards gender equality.
