The 1920s Cocktail Dress: A ection of women's rights
The way society expects women and men to behave has been reflected throughout history in the style of dress. The late 1800s are commonly referred to as the Victorian age, after Queen Victoria of England. During this period there were many restrictions on women's behaviour and consequently on the clothes they wore. Socializing mostly took place at teatime in private homes, or outside at tea houses. At these events women often socialized only with other women. They wore long tea gowns which were specifically designed to protect women's modesty.
However, at the same time women's rights movements were starting up all over the world, demanding more rights, such as the right to vote, own and, or earn the same pay as men. As a result of one of these campaigns, women in the United States won the right to vote in political elections in 1920, and British women in 1928. This new-found political freedom was reflected in fashion, most notably in the invention of the cocktail dress. It was designed to be worn at 'cocktail hour' (in the early evening between 6.00 and 8.00 p.m.) and the dress was fashioned to be a stylish garment with a look halfway between daytime and evening.
Without doubt the most successful of all cocktail dresses was the "little black dress (or LBD) which Chanel and Patou are credited with designing in Two of its most distinctive features were its shorter hemline and black colour. The original design also included a matching hat, shoes and short gloves.
One group of women in the 1920s expressed their new political rights through fashion: the Flappers. Always ready to break society's rules, Flappers went to cocktail parties, moved energetically to dances such as the Charleston, drank alcohol, cut their hair short and had jobs. As the years went by new. more liberated styles emerged on the cocktail party scene: Dior's shorter dresses of the 1950s, or Galitzine's palazzo pyjama trousers, and Pucci's one piece suits in the 1960s
Fashion was ready to celebrate women's rights with style and to go with women into a new liberated era
OVER TO YOU
What other social movements have been reflected in fashion?
Do you think men and women no longer have any restrictions on their clothing choices? Why, or why not?
In the past 100 years. how much have attitudes changed towards women's clothing in your country?