1920's Clothing

   

The 1920’s were a decade of fashion and men and women were beginning to change their attire in different ways. Women abandoned their more restricting fashions and began to wear more comfortable clothes such as skirts and trousers, and men abandoned their work attire for athletic clothing. As World War I was over people became more optimistic and more into fashion and having a good time. Women began to enter the work force, and started to wear different styles of clothing, they became known as flappers because of what they wore and corsets became a thing of the past. Cotton and wool clothing was not used anymore, and silk was a fabric that was luxurious and expensive because of the quantity of it. Rayon was considered to be "artificial silk", and when it became patented in the United States it was used for almost everything. Post-war fashion changed as soon as the war was over, there were still the conservative women who wore dresses, but the young women wore more athletic sportswear. The "flapper" look was that the dresses were more functional and flattened the bust line rather than accentuating it. They wore the straight line chemise topped by the close fitting cloche hat, which became the uniform of the day. The dresses were low waisted and had fullness at the hemline which allowed women to kick their heels for new dances like the Charleston. The women also changed their hairstyles, and now they all had the bob cut, which gave them a more boyish look. The men’s attire was different; they wore short sleeved suits and long ones for more formal occasions. Menswear was characterized by high-waisted jackets, often worn with belts. Trousers were relatively narrow and straight, and were worn cuffed at the bottom. In 1925, wider trousers came into fashion, commonly known as Oxford bags, while suit jackets returned to a normal waist and lapels became wider and were often peaked. During the 1920's double-breasted vests often worn with single-breasted jackets became fashionable. Men had a variety of sports clothes including sweaters and short trousers, but for more formal occasions men wore tuxedos. Clothing during the 1920's already relates to the story because in the story we are in 1922, which is the time period when it all began to change. And during Gatsby's luxurious parties, this type of clothing is described by the narrator, and the guests are all wearing these types of fashion.