1920s How Equality Lended to Fashion

The Roaring '20s was the decade that changed information technology all for women'southward style. In the 1920s, manner was synonymous with the women'southward suffrage movement and trading Victorian values for daring styles of the modern woman. With that transition and liberation came pants, button-up shirts and suits. One could fifty-fifty debate that androgynous styles gained popularity because women wanted to be taken more seriously in the fields of concern and labor.

How did 1920s fashion start blurring the lines of masculine and feminine clothing? What impact did fashion have on the rest of society? And where can the 1920s masculine await withal exist seen in mode today? To find out the styles and impact of 1920s fashion, ENTITY chatted with Jo Paoletti, way historian and American Studies professor at the University of Maryland, and Leon Wu, founder and CEO of gender-neutral manner make Precipitous Suiting.

Via GIPHY

Here are four clothing staples that helped bridge the gap between the sexes in the early on 1920s, plus skilful insight on these styles' importance and presence in fashion today.

ane The Collared White Shirt

The collared white shirt became a status marker for men in the Victorian period in the late xix^th century. Information technology symbolized the compatible for the moral and masculine human being that was business-similar, but more importantly, accomplished. It wasn't until the 1920s when clothes codes became more casual that women started adopting the straighter lines of men'southward apparel. These collared shirts even inspired the creation of a masculine shirt especially designed for women: a "middy," or a sailor'due south shirt given a few feminine touches.

READ MORE: Why Millie Bobbie Brown is Fashion's New Star

As Jo Paoletti explains, "The shift in gender expression in mode in the 1920s for adults definitely tilted more in the management of more masculine elements for women…[however,] the term 'unisex' wasn't coined until the 1960s." The white collared shirt illustrates quite well  how "unisex" clothing starts to appear in the 1920s, but gains even more than traction – or even legitimacy – in later decades.

Actress Gloria Swanson

In fact, the white collared shirt became increasingly pop in the 1940s and 50s when Lauren Bacall wore the aforementioned white button-down every bit her co-star, Humphrey Bogart. This trend was also seen on Hollywood stars similar Audrey Hepburn in 1956, Ava Gardner in 1960 and Marilyn Monroe in 1961. No longer recognized as a man'south article of apparel, the collared white shirt had – and still has – become a staple in every woman'southward closet.

2 The Female person Conform

Coco Chanel was the revolutionary female that changed everything about women'south clothing. In the early 1920s, she designed the classic "Chanel suit," which was based on traditionally masculine apparel. This was the first adapt designed for women, and it and opened the door for women to add male silhouettes to their wardrobe – and wear them in the workplace.In fact, some even fence that this suit helped motivate women to proceed chasing their professional dreams and retain their independence later on World War I ended.

READ MORE: Why We Demand Feminism in Fashion

Co-ordinate to Leon Wu, this feeling of empowerment is even so one of the chief reasons female suits are so pop today. "At Sharpe, our finely tailored fashion is focused on gender equality through giving people the chance to genuinely live equally themselves with the help of our clothing," he explains. (Leon originally designed masculine clothing for masculine women like herself, but now identifies as a  transgender homo.) "Suits and similarly tailored habiliment are an platonic garment to celebrate of import moments and live the well-nigh impactful version of yourself."

In the 1920s, women had just received the right to vote (equally of 1920) simply were still fighting for other rights like equal pay and access to pedagogy. Present, the various recent women's marches evidence that there is still work to be washed for gender equality. And, in both eras and cases, empowering female suits may play a function in the gender equality move.

3 The Oxford Shoe

You lot've probably heard Neil Armstrong'south (allegedly misquoted) phrase:  "That's one small pace for homo, one giant leap for mankind." Of course, women wearing Oxford shoes didn't walk on the moon, but this mode trend was a step forwards for gender equality.

The Oxford shoe's popularity dates dorsum to the 1600s in Europe, but it wasn't until the 1920s that women began sporting then equally casual footwear. While men continued to wear the Oxford shoe for fancier occasions, women adopted them every bit a more coincidental improver to their wardrobe. Finally, a comfortable shoe to wear while playing sports or dancing the dark away!

READ MORE: Wear These Shoes Proudly: The Social Stigma of Big Anxiety

According to Jo Paoletti, "A tendency toward simpler, more tailored styles which may accept been seen at the time as 'modern' as much as 'mannish.'" This idea can especially be seen in figures like the historical aviator Amelia Earhart, who was often pictured in Oxford shoes.

Today, Wu says Abrupt Suiting "is not a standardized look or mode; it's more than of a social attribute." Similarly, in the 1920s, women weren't necessarily trying to look masculine with their new styles; they were just moving into the future where practicality, personal expression and female person empowerment were priorities in women's fashion.

4 Pants

Every bit odd as this might audio, pants were not always considered women's articles of habiliment. Wearing pants during the Victorian period was a very radical thought, even resulting social and public ostracism. Past the early on 1900s, wearing pants was nevertheless seen as controversial. A few exceptions were, past the mid 1920s, wearing "knickers" (voluminous knee-length wool  pants) during sports or "bloomers" as school girl uniforms. Of course, daring women like Amelia Earhart and Coco Chanel also wore trousers years before they were common.

In one case the 1930s rolled in, pants became a more accustomed part of female style. Just picture elegant women similar Audrey Hepburn or even Zelda Fitzgerald!

Pants are just one of the examples of fashion's "unsettling" changes, with Jo Paoletti pointing out: "By the 1940s and 50s, the 1920s were beingness depicted in popular culture as the depraved, complimentary-wheeling, immoral 'roaring twenties.'  While some segments of lodge welcome changes to conventional mores, others plant the trends threatening and disturbing."

READ More than: What You lot Don't Know Well-nigh Fashion Icon and Humanitarian Audrey Hepburn

Today, you may not recall twice before sliding into your favorite pair of skinny jeans, but for the thousands of women who came earlier you, pants were annihilation just uncomplicated.

The Bottom Line

The 1920s marked i of the first times women began to explore masculine elements of fashion and aggrandize their style boundaries. Suddenly suits, Oxford shoes and collared t-shirts weren't only for men – and women learned how they could personalize these styles to make them their own.

Yet, these styles didn't emerge and dice in the 1920s. In fact, they nonetheless remain popular today. Why? One of the biggest reasons may be that their symbolism is still relevant to the modern adult female. "We are still fighting for women'southward rights and that elusive gender equality," says Wu. "[As for clothes,] the trend today is you, and y'all in your most authentic form."

READ MORE: 2016: The Year in Style

And this trend – of freedom, of personalization and of adopting a way that reflects your truthful self – is probably a goal with which every woman, from the 1920s or 2017, can relate.

Share this post