The New American Woman
The New American Woman
The “Roaring Twenties” was a huge decade for the American woman. Women transformed from being completely covered up to wearing only a short skirt and tank top. The “Flapper” style came complete with a bobbed haircut, bound breasts, and short skirt. The flapper was a symbol of women gaining the right to vote, becoming more active in the workforce, and being equivalent to men in the political sense. All of these things led to what people called “The new American Woman.” Margaret Deland, an elder in the twenties, does a great job of describing the new woman as this:
a wholesome loveable creature with surprisingly bad manners. She has gone to college, and when she graduates she is going to earn her own living. She declines to be dependent upon a father and mother amply able to support her. She will do settlement work; she won’t go to church; she has views upon marriage and the birthrate, and she utters them calmly, while her mother blushes with embarrassment; she occupies herself, passionately, with everything, except the things that used to occupy the minds of girls. (Brown 31)
The “New American Woman” consisted of a new fashion or way of portraying herself, a freer sexuality, and equality to men in the political sense.
The first thing that made a huge impact on women’s lives in the 1920’s was the new sense of fashion. The magazine Vogue had a huge influence over young women in this decade. All young women wanted to achieve the Vogue look. This is how women got the idea to bind their breasts, because it made them look like the tall, thin, flat chested models. The models had short bobbed hair that was treated with a perm and wore what we would consider today, an ordinary amount of makeup. This led to all women sporting a short, curly bob, and adding a daily makeup ritual to their mornings. Dieting also became very popular around this time because the flapper style required a thin figure. Diet product sales along with cosmetics sales
The “Roaring Twenties” was a huge decade for the American woman. Women transformed from being completely covered up to wearing only a short skirt and tank top. The “Flapper” style came complete with a bobbed haircut, bound breasts, and short skirt. The flapper was a symbol of women gaining the right to vote, becoming more active in the workforce, and being equivalent to men in the political sense. All of these things led to what people called “The new American Woman.” Margaret Deland, an elder in the twenties, does a great job of describing the new woman as this:
a wholesome loveable creature with surprisingly bad manners. She has gone to college, and when she graduates she is going to earn her own living. She declines to be dependent upon a father and mother amply able to support her. She will do settlement work; she won’t go to church; she has views upon marriage and the birthrate, and she utters them calmly, while her mother blushes with embarrassment; she occupies herself, passionately, with everything, except the things that used to occupy the minds of girls. (Brown 31)
The “New American Woman” consisted of a new fashion or way of portraying herself, a freer sexuality, and equality to men in the political sense.
The first thing that made a huge impact on women’s lives in the 1920’s was the new sense of fashion. The magazine Vogue had a huge influence over young women in this decade. All young women wanted to achieve the Vogue look. This is how women got the idea to bind their breasts, because it made them look like the tall, thin, flat chested models. The models had short bobbed hair that was treated with a perm and wore what we would consider today, an ordinary amount of makeup. This led to all women sporting a short, curly bob, and adding a daily makeup ritual to their mornings. Dieting also became very popular around this time because the flapper style required a thin figure. Diet product sales along with cosmetics sales