Flappers: Sex, Booze, and Attitude

The truth is, no one really knows when "flappers" got their name.

Greta Garbo Smoking in a Tuxedo

The era started in England as a description of a tall gawky girl in her late teens.

Supposedly this girl had a long lean frame that was "supposed to need a certain type of clothing - long straight lines to cover her awkwardness and the advertised these garments as 'flapper-dresses'"

In the early 1920s the entire world really came to recognize these "types" of girls.

The world had changed after World War I. Society saw these young women as a sign that there was a problem. With their smoking, drinking, dancing, bobbed hair, cussing, and bad attitudes.

Young Women Redefined Themselves in America

To the rest of society this was not the way a "girl" was supposed to look or act.

Modesty was the expected behavior from a "lady." They didn't fit into regular society with their brash attitudes and blatant disregard for the rules.

Highly respected and educated people went as far as to call these girls "the lowest degree of intelligence."

The entire movement became a rebellion against the status quo.

Who Was to Blame?

You can credit or blame many people for creating this era in America, but you'd be remiss not to mention F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald's book, This Side of Paradise was the manifesto of the era, and garnered Scott names like "the king of American youth."

If he was the King, then Scott's wife, the beautiful and vibrant Zelda Sayre was the queen. Unabashed, straight-forward, and impetuous, the Fitzgeralds became famous for their parties in Manhattan and around the world.

Hollywood and the "Flaming Youth"

The "Flaming Youth" of the 1920s

Another major influence on the thinking of American youth in the 1920s were the movies being produced in Hollywood.

Radiant stars like Rudolph Valentino, Charlie Chaplin, Clara Bow, Louise Brooks, and the quintessential woman of the silver screen Joan Crawford.

The character became an exciting, alluring, and dangerous for young girls to emulate both in actions and fashions.

Beautiful women and handsome men embodied everything the "flaming youth" wanted to become.

They had "It" (It is always capitalized).

The girl who had "It" most was the beautiful Clara Bow.

A petite, flat-chested, big-lipped dynamo, Bow was the hottest thing going, with her beautiful dresses and brash attitude she was "the kind of girl the fellows want" and the girls all want to be like.

As the 1920s progressed new characters would emerge, but by the end of the decade the character became a dying breed as the economy slowed and cooler heads and bodies prevailed.

It's been said by Joshua Zeitz and others the "flapper was, in effect, the first truly modern American."

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