Flappers

=Flappers of the 1920's= == The term flappers generally refers to the "new breed" of women who emerged from society in the 1920's. With their skirts almost as short as their hair, they went out into society kicking, literally! The flappers were not only known for their new found ways of thinking but for their dancing skills, and new look!

The Flappers of the 1920's brought about the first major signs of a rise in feminism. Their behavior of this time was unlike any behaviors that we had seen in women prior to this period, and it generally shocked the public. Flappers went out every night dancing, and smoked while also drinking openly in public, even with the prohibition period. Flappers also started working outside of the home, and also dated freely, making women generally a more stronger sex then they had been in the past. With the popularization of jazz in the 1920's also came an increased interest in dancing. Women began going out and dancing to the jazz music in public, which is one of the reasons in which the popular women's clothing of the time became lighter and shorter. The dancing of the flappers was characterized by free, energetic movement, and allowed for the women to feel more liberated than women of the past ever were able to be. The most recognizable dance known for having been popular in the Roaring Twenties was the Charleston, which is a jazz dance in which the feet move outward with the legs bent at the knee to the music and the arms swing freely. This dance can be done individually or in groups and in the 1920's it allowed for everyone to do their own interpretations of the well-known movement. Flappers could often have been seen during the 1920's dancing the Charleston to jazz music in public.
 * "Newfound" Way of Thinking**
 * Dancing**

The style of the flappers was originally inspired by the popular French fashions of the time. The stylistic innovations of the designer Coco Chanel were especially influential on the appearance of the flappers. Because jazz music and the dancing that accompanied it were so popular among woman at the time, their clothing needed to suit their movement. The skirts of the flappers needed to be short enough to allow the full movement of the Charleston dance and were designed with a very straight waistline, which created a young and boyish look for them. The clothes of the flappers were generally more revealing and flashy than the clothes that women were expected to wear in the past. Women of the 1920's were growing bolder than they ever had been before, and they had a new hairstyle that accentuated their bold attitudes. It became popular for the flappers to get their hair styled in "Bobs," which were short, simple hairstyles which were much more boyish than the long, feminine hairstyles that had been popular in the past. When women got their hair cut short, they were often inspired to transform themselves into full-fledged flappers by wearing long beads and short, fringed dresses. Once popular actresses of the day, such as Clara Bow and Louise Brooks, got their hair cut into bobs, barber shops, which were formally only controlled by men, were flooded by women looking to get their hair bobbed. Eventually hairdressers also had to accept the look and begin to cut hair into bobs too because they were losing so many of their customers to the barber shops. Hairdressers became more and more skilled at bobbing hair, and new, more stylized versions of the bob were becoming popular. The bob was a huge controversy in the 1920's because men, preachers, and old-fashioned women did not agree with women having short hair, but this just encouraged the flappers to further asset their independence and they continued to show off their fabulous bobs. =media type="youtube" key="3svvCj4yhYc" height="385" width="480"=
 * Clothes**
 * "The Bob"**

Kemsen Searles and Lindsey Kriger

WORKS CITED [|www.wikipedia.org] [|www.youtube.com]