The 'New' Woman

During the 1920's, the 'new' woman emerged. The passing of the 19th amendment allowed women to vote for the very first time. This also gave women the opportunity to also begin looking for careers and working outside their homes. Women's fashion also changed as well. They broke away from the Victorian era and began dressing what they thought was more modern. Young women started rebelling against the old ways of the older generation. They wanted to have fun and to experiment with life. That's when the 'flapper' came to be. The term 'flapper' referred to a changed woman during the 1920's. The term "flapper" first appeared in Great Britain after World War I. It was there to use to describe those young girls, still somewhat in there awkward stage when they had not yet entered their womanhood. The 'flapper' usually styled their hair in a short bob, wore short skirts, wore excessive make up, which at the time was seen as inappropriate for a woman and they did and said things that often others thought was not lady like for a woman to say or do. The ‘Flapper' image was convinced as drastic - to some, shocking - changes in women's clothing and hair. Almost every article of their clothing was trimmed down and lightened in order to make their movement easier. The images of flappers were young women who went by night to jazz clubs where they danced, smoked cigarettes, and went out and dated freely.  The Flappers' behaviors were considered strange at the time and redefined women's roles. In America, a flapper has always been described as a giddy, attractive and slightly unusual young woman who was supposedly and somewhat a foolish girl, but full of wild surmises and tending to rebel against the rules and ideas of her elders. Flappers had both an image and an attitude. Flappers seemed to grip to youth as if it were to leave them at any moment. So, they took risks and were very reckless. They wanted to be different, to declare their departure from the Gibson Girl's morals. The ‘flapper’ created what many people would consider the "new" woman. However, this movement ended and the 'flapper' trend eventually faded away right in the time of the Stock Market Crash of 1929. Though, much of the 'flapper’ changes remained.