This article explores the fun history of fashion and the modernization of today’s woman. 

It all began about ninety or so years ago with the birth of the Flapper.  Coming into her own after the ending of World War One, her domain was jazz clubs and speakeasies in the 1920s.  Wearing short skirts and bold jewelry, her designers of choice were the likes of Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli.  She drank gin, played poker and smoked cigars right along side of her man.  She danced the Charleston and flaunted herself in ways that generation before her never dared.  She was given the right to vote and participate in many activities which were previously reserved for men only.  The flapper was also the very first woman in history to be truly conscious of her weight.  The jazz era also gave birth to the very first fad diets, and strange apparatus that promised to “jiggle the fat away” with enormous rubber bands, and people began exercising in gyms regularly.  So conscious of her weight, she even went to the lengths of binding her breasts down with bands of cotton to keep her figure thin and boyish.  Women also strove to keep their skin pale and perfect.  Any sign of heavy housework on the hands was considered unfashionable, and women liked to keep their skin porcelain and unblemished, unlike those poorer women who had to work outside in the fields.  With hair smartly bobbed and donning the cloche hat, I can say that the flapper girl was “all that”.

When the stock market crashed in 1929, the flapper girl crashed right along with it.  The farther down the economy sunk, so too did the hemlines on skirts and dresses.  Thin was definitely still in, and beauty was all important, but clothing was modest but impeccable. 

Pajamas, turbans and all things Egyptian were the rage.  Such trends as women wearing menswear in the manner of business jackets and ties with stockings and heels were growing every more popular.  She still had her chic bobbed hair and favorite cloche, but the colors were darker, more defined and the look was heavier.  Young actresses, fresh from the talkies became what every young girl wished to become.  Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis are just a few of the women which steamed up the movie-goer’s eyeglasses, and set the trends for the years to follow. 

When the 1940s hit, so did World War Two, and women went to work as the men went overseas.  Fuller, more voluptuous figures began making the scene.  The Cross Your Heart brassiere gave her the curves to match those of Marilyn Monroe and Rosalind Russell. 

During the wholesome fifties, these gals smoldered on the silver screen dressed in gorgeous gowns by the likes of Adrienne and Orry-Kelly.  Nobody will forget the movie “The Seven Year Itch” in that pivotal scene as Marilyn stands over the grate with her high heels and gorgeous white dress.  It is no wonder that Marilyn is celebrated as one of the most beautiful women to ever grace the planet.  Skin was still pale and creamy, and ultra feminine look was perfectly matched with the stay at home moms who lived to please their husbands and children.  It was the beginning of the Baby Boomer era, where married couples were reunited after the war, and the nuclear family was the most important priority to all.

With the sixties came the revolution of feminism and boho-chic.  With many women tired of living in their kitchens, she decided it was time to take on a new image.   Women were dying to be wafer thin again with thanks from that famous model known only as “Twiggy”.   Big beehive hair, heavy black eyeliner and short baby doll dresses were sported by all of the fashion conscious girls in the sixties with the onslaught of the British Invasion.  Very soon,  women were stripping off their aprons and burning their bras, as protesters railed against the Vietnam War and the government that funded it.  At the end of the decade women donned long, flowing dresses, flowers in their hair and tie-dye caftans.  “Free Love” and living in peace was the newest fad, and the famous concert of Woodstock put a punctuation mark on the most politically heated decade in recent history. 

The seventies brought super funk music and discotheques, but before you look back on that decade and chuckle over the platform boots and polyester leisure suits, you may notice that many of today’s styles mimic those wild, crazy party days.  Women were now nearly equal to men in the workplace, but were not getting paid the same amount of money.  Now, thanks to the new feminist attitude, women were not only expected to have babies and cook the meals, they were now feeling pressure to go outside of the home and work, too.  With the eighties came power suits, power lunches and power business women…think Joan Collins to get the idea.  I remember this time, and recall those huge shoulder pads, stiletto heels and monstrously voluminous hair.  Women were now gaining on their male counterparts in the workplace, and the look they gave off was intimidating and harsh.  The body type had changed for women yet again.  Now women not only had to look thin, they also had to be fit.  Remember the 20 minute workout?  How about the Jane Fonda workout tapes?  Aerobics were the craze, as women desperately tried to look lean, mean and athletic with good muscle definition.  As a sign of wealth, women were dying for the look of tanned skin.  The reasoning behind it was for women to show people that she was rich enough to travel to places such as Tahiti, Hawaii and the Virgin Islands.

Tanning salons and sunbathing on the beach were extremely popular activities, and now many women, sadly suffer the long term effects of sun damage to the skin causing premature aging, and melanoma. 

It was known as the “me decade” and there are no questions why.  Women wanted it all, and they went out and got it.

The nineties were a flying high.  Now, young women and men were expected to look very thin.  Calvin Klein made the “Heroin chic” look popular, and we celebrated ultra thin models like Kate Moss.  The clothes were simple yet elegant, but some styles were merely regurgitated from eras past.  We brought back the platforms but modernized them.  We also saw the return of the bell bottom pant, which was reminiscent of those wild disco days of the seventies, but we made them lower waisted.  We still long for the look of the seventies, even in today’s fashion trends.

Who knew about that terrible tragic day of September 11, 2001?  Everything stopped that day.  The stock-market had stopped, the world stopped and everything changed in one horrifying instant.  As a result, the economy has been in a down turn, as the United States occupies both Iraq and Afghanistan.  With our fears about global warming, the trend is going green, recycling and now companies know that what we are doing is closing those purse strings that have been open for so many decades, hanging onto every precious penny much like the art deco beauties of the thirties. 

Right now, the look is still chic.  Bold, chunky jewelry is hot, leggings from the eighties topped with elegant tunics are current yet again, and thrift store shopping is considered in vogue.  Many traditional patterns such as Burberry and Argyle are popular this fall and winter,   and the platform heel is coming back yet again.  I almost see it as a “mix and match” time, where everything goes, as long as it suits your body type and budget.  Who knows what the next big look will be.  Will we see the return of the gorgeous flapper dress, or even the tie-dyed generation?  Will we swoon over pointy stilettos and massive linebacker shoulder pads, or will we move towards the soft, feminine looks of the forties and fifties?  As far as I see it, all things are possible. The one thing that never goes out of style is that whatever you wear, wear it loud and proud.  You are who you are, and even through the ages the most stylish of women took only the trends that suited them, and left the rest behind.  Why not start a trend today?  Who knows you may be the next fashion rage.

Have a fashionably gorgeous day